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(Outdated) The Phantom Thieves are mysterious to the naked eye, but there are some mysteries even they overlook.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?

6. C1 (Hakaru II): A Labyrinth of Gluttony

My life has always been a series of ups and downs, but none can compare to the ups and downs of becoming heroes you didn't even know existed. After Kamoshida confessed to his crimes on the second of May, on that very same day I met HEX for the first time. I wasn't entirely sure if I was going to be ready for what's to come, but once I awakened to my Persona, everything changed about me. All of a sudden, I was becoming braver than before, where I originally couldn't throw a punch that hard before, I was now able to send Shadows flying instantly.

I also had to confront my own fear of being a coward back at the jail house where my doll version was. Even though I honestly wanted to run away, because I heard my own voice that sounded so scared, and the fact that even Jin'ichi seemed afraid of this decision, made it clear that I had to help Jin'ichi become a better person. The same applies to everyone else who joined the little squad that started off as a simple adventure. Akiyo was at first scared of this corruption stuff, but because me and Jin'ichi accidentally got drunk on alcoholic foods, we weren't there to see her awakening. But we still supported her to become a better person, even if she were to run and scream.

The liger we got honestly shocked me, but after sticking around with him for quite a while, we knew that he was more than just some wild cat. He just wanted to stop being treated like a pampered pet. Now that he's hanging with Jin'ichi at the clubhouse he made, Jin'ichi seems to be taking great care of him. We're going to need him if we have to get from place to place now, mostly since he recently learned how to turn into a monster truck.

But then there's Takeyoshi… oh boy did we mess him up. He started as our unofficial member, but then he started to adapt to his surroundings. He's been on 4 missions with us so far, and every time he seems to bring something new to the table. The second time we came there he brought his sticky-sword, which was brought out by his imagination. The third he taught himself how to change his sword into various things like a whale and a baby elephant. The fourth time he dressed up like true Phantom Thieves do, but at the cost of his sanity…

We did our best to encourage him to be more than just a child, but he took that confidence too far one day. It was a Friday, only a couple of days since Kamoshida confessed his guilt, and Takeyoshi was in a mood. When we came back from the Metaverse that day, we heard that my sister Junko was going to get bullied by Monigami Peroski, our main target, and I'm his future babysitter!

We knew that this was a terrible fate, because whenever Monigami comes to be taken care of, he either drives their babysitters mad or makes it look like they've gone mad. For some delusional reason, he has gotten away with this for quite a long time. And if I became his next babysitter, then the secondary league of Phantom Thieves will be doomed!

I wasn't about to let him get away with this, my big brotherly instincts were going wild as I planned to just tell my dad that she's getting picked on, but Takeyoshi and a couple of his friends insisted that they were going to stop him. We chased them into an alleyway near Junko's school, and when we got there, oh man you wouldn't want to know what was in that child's head. We watched as Takeyoshi took out all of his rage on the real Monigami. When he was through, he scared the pants off of Monigami, and he ran out of the alleyway. His friends cheered for them as they celebrated his victory, my sister is even proud of him and, to an extent, me for supporting him. I appreciate that everyone's happy, but what does that mean for Monigami…?

Jin'ichi and Akiyo were clearly scared too, which wasn't a good sign as Jin'ichi never gets scared by anything, well except the 'doll incident' but that's beside the point. The point is, there was something clearly wrong with Takeyoshi, and with only a few days left before I become Monigami's babysitter, we've got to figure out what's going on inside the bully's head after what the kid did. I also got a text from HEX in the morning, which was weird because he never texts me in the morning. The message said something even more cryptic than ever…

"The child. He's quite the handful isn't he? Perhaps you probably shouldn't have given him the impression of senseless violence. To you, it felt like a new man, but to him? He felt as if he could use his anger as a weapon, that's not the point of the awakenings. And now, you'll never be able to steal the treasure. How ironic; the pupil has become the equivalent of a man-child who refused to accept peace from their master. Such a pity, I truly thought he was a valuable asset to the Phantom Thieves, even Skull wouldn't lash out that hard against a Palace Ruler."

That's all he wrote. I felt a huge hole in my stomach was forming, I never thought HEX would be this upset about Takeyoshi's madness. It doesn't matter if he said it aloud, this message was all it took to picture it in my head. I knew I had to do something about the kid or else something even worse might happen! I originally thought a kid would be a bad idea because he was too weak, but here I was, shivering and staring at my phone because of a kid with a massive war-trauma!

"Big bro, you're gonna be late for school!" My sister called to me from the door, with no other choice but to abide by society's rules once more, I got out of bed, put on my school clothes and then went to school where nothing remotely interesting happened that day.

We gathered in the clubhouse in the huge junkyard at about 5:30 PM as usual, Jin'ichi managed to distract Takeyoshi by telling him we might need some less expensive snacks at the store. This gave us plenty of time to talk about Takeyoshi's dilemma with Naruki involved. We gathered around the clubhouse table as we sat down to discuss the problem at hand. Naruki was just as surprised as we were when we described that sudden crazed look on Takeyoshi's face…

"Whoa, that kid really did beat the crap out of Monigami. I know it's supposed to be a bad thing, but wasn't that what you guys were trying to accomplish?" asked Naruki. I was still trying to recover from yesterday as I expressed my concern: "Yeah but not like this! Physical violence is bad enough on its own, but the poor kid was scared out of his mind!"

"Harry, are we talking about Takeyoshi, or Monigami?" Jin'ichi asked with a conflicting expression. "Both apparently. Takeyoshi was scared of Monigami, but ever since he went through that play tunnel he seems to have lost his own mind." I tried to conclude.

Akiyo feels a bit of regret signaled by her gripping her arms around her body. "Yes… perhaps we might've motivated Takeyoshi too much. In the brief moments where he was violent, he had become corrupt, that was a feeling I never wanted to come from Takeyoshi. And now that Monigami fears Takeyoshi, instead of the other way around, who knows what kind of mental effects it'll have on him..."

"Well. Can't we just not invite him to the mansion this time? I think he's been through quite enough." Naruki suggested. Unfortunately, Jin'ichi, like it or not, relies on child equality. If a child is left out of anything adults do, that only makes them want it more. The reason he recruited Takeyoshi in the first place was for him not to feel left out, and right now? It's no exception as Jin'ichi formed a fist in complete disagreement: "And what, upset him? No way are we leaving him out of the pack even after what he did! He's still that loveable kid I've come to know, aren't you afraid he might go too far again?"

Akiyo got more worried as she expressed her fears for the child: "But Jin'ichi, you've seen how aggressive Takeyoshi has gotten. If we take him back in now, that other Monigami would be also scared of Takeyoshi, and then Takeyoshi might even end up killing him!" Naruki wasn't fearful like the rest of us and he took Akiyo's side: "She makes a good point dudes, and in case you don't remember correctly, killing Shadow Monigami will make us no different from the ones behind the mental-shutdowns. I sure as hell don't want to be on the wrong side of the law…"

I took Jin'ichi's side because I knew Takeyoshi wasn't a bad kid, he just took things too far, that's all: "No, Jin'ichi's right! We can't just say no after everything he's been through, that's like taking away candy from a baby after he's been sucking it for an hour."

Jin'ichi smiled his usual punky smile at me, after saying something like that I felt sure of myself that this was the right thing. "Well said Harry, you really are the kind of guy who doesn't leave people behind. And you guys shouldn't take something from a kid after he's already started it. Just have a little faith you guys, we'll set the kid straight in no time!" Akiyo looked away from us in a conflicted matter, she wanted to admit that we could save Takeyoshi, but her sense of mortality makes it hard for her to trust people that much…

"W-Well, I don't know…" Naruki then talked again after drinking a bit of his milk: "Do you really think we can un-traumatize a kid? The guy's a rabid lunatic , we can't just keep him like this. Did you guys see the size of that whale?"

"Yep. It sure was a big one alright." Jin'ichi says that like it's a good thing, I like that we're getting a bit off-topic but Akiyo then addresses the issue: "Yes, I appreciate the size of the aquatic mammal, but that's not the problem! The problem is, how are we going to stop Takeyoshi from potentially throwing off our main mission?"

"We'll find out when we get there, but for now… look." Jin'ichi points outside as Takeyoshi lets himself into the clubhouse. I don't know, usually when I'm in the same room as a child it makes me warm and comfortable. Not this time, I am sitting next to the child who has been mentally hurt by the scars of war. It just gives me the creeps! I'm just shaking all over the place now that this dramatic tension has been placed...

"Hi guys! I got the snacks. Are we ready to go?" Takeyoshi says casually as he puts the snacks down on the table. Jin'ichi and I unwrapped our treats quickly while Akiyo was shivering at his presence: "Um…" she tried to get some words out of her mouth as Jin'ichi smiled at Takeyoshi. It wasn't as strong as before, I could tell from his sarcastic tone that he was desperately trying his hardest to keep his cool...

"Takeyoshi! We were just talking about you!" I looked at the kid, normally I would smile too, but the way he's looking at me is keeping me from doing anything too encouraging: "Um… yeah, you see after careful consideration, I just want to say…" "Yeah…?" Takeyoshi looked at me suspiciously, a kid looking at me like I'm hiding something is definitely way up on the afraid-of list. It doesn't help after the way he treated Monigami and the fact he only has one eye to deal with.

"I just want to say good luck! We're going back to Monigami's Mansion!" I said really fast out of fear. Big mistake. Takeyoshi got triggered by hearing that phrase, and that's definitely not a good sign! "Aw man! It's still there!? It looks like I didn't hit Monigami hard enough…" He sounded completely delusional and angry at Monigami, I think I heard his eye twitch when he said that… yikes. "Whoa kid whoa! Save it for when we get there dammit!" thank you for jumping in Naruki, I owe you one. Now Takeyoshi quickly went from angry to hyped as he jumped up and down, must be some kind of mood swing...

"Okay! I won't let you guys down!" "That's what I'm afraid you'd say…" I said a bit nervously, can you blame me if the mood whiplash got to me?

"Let's go team, and maybe try not to get too ahead of ourselves…" Jin'ichi says with confidence, but that made Takeyoshi talk pirate as he was getting his costume ready. I thought it was cute at first, but now it sounds a bit unnerving: "Argh! I can't wait to see the smug look on the chubby kid's face slowly become a blubbering mess!" Okay Takeyoshi, that sentence alone just sounds wrong! Even Akiyo is a bit cautious herself as she slowly makes a pushing motion with her hands: "N-Nice kid… it's all going to be okay…"

"Okay, so who's driving me this time? I never thought I would say that aloud..." Naruki says embarrassed, but I have a plan… "Akiyo, do you know how to drive?" I asked while winking at her. "Um, yes? I learned how to just before my sweet sixteenth. I usually avoid doing something like this because it's more common to travel by foot or by train." Akiyo says that as if she doesn't exactly prefer driving as a whole.

"Oh, I get it now! Harry, if Akiyo drives it could let the kid take in the scenery a bit. I mean after all, we are going to be visiting this place allot so we should at least give the kid a proper tour of the place." Jin'ichi winks back at me as our plan has officially begun. How do we stop a child from possibly murdering Monigami? Well it's simple: we stop Takeyoshi from having too much fun, and calm him down enough to probably not kill Monigami. It will be tricky, given the delusions he's in now, but we'll do our best.

I opened the app and began the navigation and we entered Mementos Lane as we turned into our alter egos: Hero, Gremlin, Siren, Liger, and Scalawag. I took a look at Scalawag and he was bouncing up and down with excitement: "Oh boy, I can't wait to see what the mansion looks like now that I've come back with a vengeance!" "Whoa kiddo, just wait for Hero, he's going to get more of those brochures for us." Gremlin reminded Scalawag as I went into the gas station to get more of the randomized brochures.

The gas station looked okay, at least from my perspective. I've been to thousands of these gas stations, but none of those had posters based on delusions and dreams. The only thing keeping me from forever liking it was the unredeemable bathroom I went into yesterday. Just thinking about it's unsanitary structure, it's odor forged from hundreds of sweat, it just makes me sick just thinking about it! I barfed in one of the toilets as well as going number one, fortunately I remembered to go to the bathroom in the real world before we left so it's all good.

The rest of the gas station is alright, it has that smell of mint air freshener, there's tons of shelves and fridges with foods and drinks based on what people think of them, and there's a TV that's usually just about people I've never seen before doing things they wouldn't be caught doing in real life. If this is a gas station, and it was made by people's desires, as far as I can tell it's actually pretty accurate.

I looked at the constantly smiling lady as I grabbed one of each of the various brochures that were on a rack on the counter. She's one of those kinds of people who run Mementos Lane, she's basically what all of humanity thinks of people like her. I'm not complaining, I too expect a lot from a beautiful lady smiling at my service. "Are you heading back to the Mansion of Gluttony again stranger?" the chaperone smiled as I bashfully replied: "Yes, we're going there to steal Monigami's heart."

She stopped doing anything for a brief moment, she closed her eyes and continued to smile like she was now, but the silence was so unsettling for some reason. Did I say something wrong? "Um… are you okay?" "Never better. Although I must suggest that you stay away from that place for now, it's currently gone haywire." Wait, haywire!? Takeyoshi did that much damage to him!? "U-Um, why has the mansion gone haywire...?" I asked her hoping the answer would be at least a little, it wasn't...

"You see, you outsiders have something that is known as a 'trauma'. If one has spawned a Palace and gets a 'trauma', then the trauma will override the Palace's main goal: to contain one's distorted desires. That means, everything will fall into chaos and it'll begin to slowly destroy the ruler's mind. If gone unchecked, their Palace will be centered around their trauma instead of their desires." Is she implying that Monigami's Palace will be even more distorted because of Takeyoshi? Whatever that meant, especially from someone who can't stop smiling, I didn't want to know!

I ran outside and told everyone while I was still afraid of what might happen next: "Guys! Monigami's Palace has gone haywire! If we don't do something about this, then something terrible might happen to Monigami" Siren took this like a girl to a break-up and she teared up a bit due to the shock: "Oh no! That poor child…!" "God damnit, that would mean the treasure will be harder to find huh?" Gremlin bit his lip in anger because of this sudden development.

"So what? That just makes it so Monigami would lose his Palace right?" Scalawag missed the point so I did my best to explain it better to him so he could understand the situation: "Listen, Monigami is in serious trouble right now! If we don't find out how to fix his Palace, you might not be able to see Doll-Hakaru again!" Bringing up Doll-Hakaru was the perfect guilt trip plan, although it was slightly unintentional that I reacted this way. He loves my doll-self, so naturally bringing him up would surely get his attention. Takeyoshi needs to know that Monigami is in an even bigger peril than before!

"W-well g-good riddance, h-he was just a cruel reminder of how he thinks of you! And besides, wouldn't this be a good thing to know about? No more Doll-Hakaru means no more Palace, and that means no more bullying, I'd say we leave him be!" Oh man, it didn't work… Takeyoshi is still delusional about this, perhaps we made him worse…

"Oh no you don't you little brat, we're going to see Monigami whether you like it or not! Besides, don't you want to kick this Monigami's butt personally?" Naruki managed to persuade Takeyoshi, his once angry expression turned around and he knew that he could be the only one who could stop him: "Alright, so defeating Shadow Monigami in this state won't change anything else right?" I spoke as another attempt to defuse the bomb strapped in Takeyoshi's emotions: "I'm not sure, but we have to investigate the Palace before we do anything rash." "Fine…" Takeyoshi says looking away at our choice of words.

Liger turns into a monster truck and Siren takes the wheel. Y'know, when we aren't blazing down the highway, you can really see what's going on here. There's all these weird shapes in the background that look like veins, there are very little railings that secure the risky roads, and a couple of roads were twisting and mixing together without question. Here comes the loop de loop, Siren steps on the gas carefully and we just manage to gather enough speed to avoid falling into the strange rocky pits below.

Despite my fear of heights, for once I didn't feel like puking on anyone this time. After that, it's a straight shot to Monigami's Mansion. We arrived at the toll booth and paid the dull toll guy ¥100 since there was no price range, but instead of welcoming us, he told us something unexpected…

"I don't see why you folks keep coming back here, especially now." "Huh? The mansion looks alright to me, I thought I was told it was on the fritz." I asked albeit a bit confused. The toll guy looks at me with the same face he made when I gave him money, but then again, when doesn't he make that face?: "Maybe on the outside, but on the inside? It's like some monster filled zoo in there. Master Monigami hasn't been out at all today, I have a hunch that the Palace is going haywire."

"Haywire!?" Siren sounded surprised, she knew haywire wasn't a good word to use in a time like this! Especially after what I already said about haywire Palaces. "Yep. Not that many people know why it happens, it must've been something to do with a fear of sorts. If you guys want to help sort out this mess, do me a favor and read this…" The toll guy hands me a small book, it has some cryptic font choices and the title looks straight from a criminal's letter.

" 'Metaverse for Dummies: How to fix a Palace'? Palaces can break?" I wondered as the toll guy pointed out what makes a Palace break: "That's right. Just a couple of years ago, some orange haired girl's Palace started going bonkers, but after being left alone for so long it just adapted to all of that chaos." "I'm sorry…?" Siren says a bit confused as I was. Apparently his tone started to feel a little annoyed with our arrogance, but he still kept that straight face the whole time...

"It means that if this here Palace doesn't fix itself, the owner might give in and possibly want to die." "What!?" I couldn't believe it, I know we were supposed to rebel against him, but now there is a chance that Monigami might die if we rebel too much! Scalawag kinda got stumped as to what that meant, but then he got suddenly happy as we looked at him with concern: "Hey, I already told you guys that this is a good thing! If he dies, nobody has to suffer again. And maybe we can go out for some ice cream afterwards!"

Siren was shocked and slightly embarrassed hearing Scalawag say something that crazy, and she tried to cover it up by placing her arm on his head: "Please excuse our child, he gets really excited over stuff like this."

"Yeah, can we just go in now?" Gremlin says while being a bit unnerved by Takeyoshi's overconfidence. The toll guy shrugs and presses two buttons: one to open and one to announce that it's opening over the megaphone: "Suit yourself. Welcome to Monigami's mansion, where everything has gone to shit." Yeah, that's definitely not right...

The mansion looks almost completely normal on the outside, in fact, it was exactly the way we left it last time. But there's something about this that feels empty, like a cardboard cutout. The windows didn't have anything in them, we don't see Doll-Hakaru anywhere or any of Monigami's Shadows, and I can't seem to spring up the map on my phone like last time. We were creeped out enough that this place was already empty enough on it's own, but when you've got an inappropriately excited little child next to you, you can't help but panic.

"Okay! Let's go!" Scalawag said with pride. "Whoa there kid, take it easy. The Palace has gone haywire, remember?" Gremlin points out with a worried expression on his face. "Who cares? I wanna kick some bass!" Scalawag says because he can't cuss. I've decided to help tone it down a bit myself: "Okay Scalawag, but remember what almost happened to Siren?"

"Rushing in recklessly will only cause problems. Let's stop and think about this manual we've been given before we proceed." Siren says as we spot a stubborn look on Scalawag's face: "Oh okay fine, but after that it's straight in!" I read the manual, fortunately, despite it's janky use of letters and unmatching fonts, I can understand what all of this means, so I can spot what's wrong when a Palace 'goes haywire'...

" 'Are you scared of something so much that your Palace is acting funny? Do you see a big monster that looks like your biggest fear? Are all of the neat stuff you imagined gone and the good stuff got replaced with the bad? If so, then your Palace is definitely going haywire, if the problem is not averted in the minimum of 3 days, your Palace will permanently change into a place no one would want to go. To fix a Palace, you must find the Temple that resides within that Palace before the monster does, and reclaim your stolen treasure. Only then will you be able to return it back to normal. Warning: If anyone else takes the treasure, you will be consumed by fear almost immediately and your Palace will change much quicker. Please refer to 'Palaces, Dreams and Landscapes' for more about Palaces.'"

"Oh no… If we don't fix the mansion, Monigami will be consumed with fear!" I pointed out to the crew as they all gasped. I was personally flipping out myself but everyone else's reactions made it hard for me to stay calm!

"He'll become corrupt beyond repair…" Siren was horrified knowing that if someone is in that big of trouble, she wouldn't forgive herself for not helping. "Yeah, and that treasure will definitely be even harder to grab." Gremlin brought that up again as he grinds his teeth in anger, not towards Monigami, but towards himself.

"I have no idea what's going on, but even I somehow feel sorry for him…" Liger also briefly expressed his pity for the weak, if he was in Monigami's position, he would flip out. We all felt horrible for what might happen to Monigami, despite everything he did to us, even though he was our enemy, we couldn't blame anyone but ourselves for letting him get this way… but as for Takeyoshi...

"Come on you guys. He deserves every ounce of despair he gets, if this guy gets in trouble because of it, it's not my problem anymore. Let the meanie suffer already! This guy has been picking on me for too long! Too long I tell yah! I can't wait for this psycho sucker to cry his little pants off until he drowns in his own tears! Can we go home? I want to enjoy watching Monigami, the kid who did so many bad things to everyone, cry like the scared little baby he is…" All of a sudden, Takeyoshi changed his mind! Instead of wanting to hurt Monigami, he wants him to completely suffer!?

"T-Takeyoshi… you can't be serious…" Akiyo's voice cracked as she watched the once sane child speak for himself. Seeing a mere kid say that much about their hatred for a bully, who was also a kid, is making her believe that Takeyoshi is corrupt.

"Oh yeah wise guy!? What about the treasure? You said you wanted to see that up close!" Naruki demands while shouting in Takeyoshi's face. He ignored the liger and said: "Who cares about his stinking treasure anymore? I'd bet it's some stupid bottle or maybe even another ding dong doll."

Jin'ichi walked up to Takeyoshi as he tried to use his charm to get him to help. He smiled, but that faded into a frown almost immediately: "Look kid, I know you want Monigami to suffer, trust me we all want to see him cry, but not like this pal." Takeyoshi got even more mad because now he couldn't understand what he's supposed to figure out...

"Oh yeah? Well all of you guys wanted to kill him, I could tell that every one of you had a grudge against him. What's so wrong about killing criminals!? They deserve whatever they got coming to them! I'm just doing you guys a favor and helped you drive Monigami into killing himself, what the heck is wrong with that!?"

Everything Takeyoshi, everything. I was completely shivering in my pants because I've never seen Takeyoshi this angry before, but before any of us boys could speak again, Akiyo approached Takeyoshi with the soothing voice she was known for. She recovered from her fear almost quickly by seeing the light left inside, and she frowned a bit as she stroked her hand across Takeyoshi's check.

"I can see that you have taken our inner-awakenings the wrong way, haven't you? No one deserves death, not even the most vile of criminals want to die like one. Monigami, he was the first one I saw the pure in a corrupted figure. Sure he peed in the ocean, but in the end I just wanted to see him smile as pure as the daylight. I had to realize that my awakening wasn't just anger I was dealing with, it was mostly about inner-peace. Realizing my mistakes, and vowing to see the light, was what caused me to become Siren, not any hint of anger." That sounded very appealing, good job Akiyo.

"And, I mean sure, Monigami is kinda a dick, but not that big of one. It was mostly his father's fault for killing my parents, not his. He's just a kid who was raised the wrong way, that's all." Naruki said while trying to be as upbeat as possible, and all without cracking up or pretending not to care like he usually does.

"Look, I know I said I wanted to kill him, but in actuality I… I just wanted to be strong like my pal Harry. The reason I'm so violent is because nobody understood me, and that I wanted to become someone better than plain old me, someone who has the strength of my tough self, and the kindness of my old self. I couldn't go back to the way I once was, but when Harry helped me out even when I didn't want his help, I realized that if I didn't unleash the beast I've become, I would've been killed. That's when I became Gremlin, I felt like a new man as I let my feelings run free." Jin'ichi… you shouldn't have. But then again, he's just as encouraging as ever...

"B-But, what about all those things you said about revenge and stuff? Wasn't that why you wanted Monigami dead?" Takeyoshi still doesn't get the entire picture yet, he just sounded conflicted and unsure. It was time for me to finally tell him why I awakened. It's time for me to tell him the main reason I joined the Phantom Thieves...

"Takeyoshi. I don't do this out of revenge. It was never about revenge, I just wanted to help those who couldn't help themselves..." "Huh? What do you mean Hakaru?" Takeyoshi asked. I'm glad that he did ask, but at the same time, it pains me to once again rely on my past as a crutch...

"Ever since I lost my friend Mao, I've been wanting to prove to the world that I wasn't the coward everyone thought I was. All I ever wanted was to be special, and not just for ruining someone else's life. At first, I wanted to be like Jin'ichi, a man who doesn't need friends and is too tough to be picked on by the bigger kids. But then, when I watched him suffer when Ryuji, Mishima and Akira were almost expelled, I couldn't help but feel helpless."

"To be honest, when I gave him the calling card for Kamoshida, and watched him slowly lighten up, that was the most satisfying feeling I've ever felt. Every time I turned into Hero, I meant what that name represents. To be a hero. Monigami isn't entirely a bad guy you know, but I could tell from the start he was evil. But that doesn't mean I don't hate him enough to make him suffer. Kamoshida was indeed pure evil, but like Jin'ichi said, nobody is immediately evil when they first arrive. When Kamoshida got the gold medal, I'd bet that messed him up a lot."

"The same can be said about Monigami, he may be addicted to suffering and pain, but that's because of his treasure. Once we fix his mansion, and steal his treasure, we'll save him from bullying anyone. Killing someone or making someone suffer because they made you suffer doesn't make you any better than them you know." I got more and more supportive as Jin'ichi, Akiyo, and Naruki all felt like they should help too…

"Yeah kid, I know how much you hate Monigami, but just leaving him here to rot isn't any good." "If you want to become a better person yourself, you'd take the pure with the corrupt, and then and only then, will you be balanced enough to make a change." "Hey, just because we're rough and tough doesn't mean you have to go overboard little guy."

"Helping others is what the Phantom Thieves do right? They don't just stand around and watch someone suffer, they help those who are in trouble by stealing the desires of the ones giving them trouble! Doing that makes them confess everything bad that they did, and that's way better than punching the answers out! Now don't get me wrong, sometimes violence may be a good thing, but too much will just make things worse for them." I said with a tone that felt very empowering. Akiyo followed up with a smile.

"Trust me, I was once hostile like you, handing out corrupt charms to those who are equally corrupt, and even attempting to get the corrupted arrested. But then, thanks to you, you helped me realize my true potential. I am not a monster, I am a healer. The healer of all things pure and corrupt." I nod at Akiyo's comfort as Takeyoshi sniffs a bit. I think we're starting to get to him...

"See? We don't always have to end things with violence, but that doesn't mean we can't use a little violence when the going gets tough." "And trust me, this mansion is the best place for me to lash out in, it keeps me smooth in the real world as well." Naruki says stretching a bit.

"That goes double for me, but I didn't always resort to violence in real time you know, just when someone wicked as hell comes into my view. I didn't exactly want to kill them, I just wanted to teach them a lesson on respecting us 'poor boys'. But when I heard about this place, along with Harry's motivation on coming here, I decided that I should probably take it a little more easy in case those guys have Palaces in their heads." Thanks again Jin'ichi, I'll take it from here...

"Takeyoshi. You don't have to feel bad about wanting to kill someone, that's relatable, but if you try to actually kill someone, it's not worth the trouble. The only way we can truly fix Monigami is to save him from himself! And to do that, we need to first save his mansion!" I told him as Takeyoshi started to tear up a bit.

"B-But… i-isn't he our enemy...? We're supposed to beat him right?!" Takeyoshi is feeling a bit regretful, so I told him with confidence: "Well yes, but still, going through his Palace while it's haywire to get his treasure, only for it to consume him with fear, does that sound like fun to you?"

"As they say, the less rough the journey is, the easier it is to save those who can't be saved alone." Jin'ichi says pumping a fist into the air. "To defeat your enemy, you must look for the easiest opportunity to do so. But that shouldn't mean you should abuse that opportunity..." Akiyo clears up with a calm expression.

"Are we saying all this just so Takeyoshi won't kill Monigami?" Naruki! We're supposed to get him to not kill Monigami, not make him think we're talking nonsense! I bring the conversation back up as fast as it was brought down: "It's more than that! If you watch as Monigami slowly but surely dies, given the mental state you were in, you would've become much worse when dealing with another bully!"

"That'll make you a 'poor boy' alright. Tell me, do you want to live your life with the guilt of watching Monigami rot away?" "Or would you rather steal his desires and make him confess his guilt to the world?" I finish Jin'ichi's statement as he points to me like he knows his stuff. "I'd go with Harry, trust me, watching Kamoshida confess everything he did is the most satisfying thing for me. And I'm positive that the only way we can win without looking like bullies is by helping our enemies, even when you think they can't be forgiven."

As the young child he is, he probably couldn't understand most of what we're saying, but we made sure the message was clear enough for him to know that Monigami may be cruel, but nobody deserves to die… he started crying as he dropped on the floor and realized his mistake…

"*Sniff* You guys… I'm sorry! I didn't mean to hurt Monigami that much! I only wanted his reign of terror to end, I didn't think I was going to end this way! I was only trying to impress you guys, please forgive me!" Jin'ichi smiled knowing we got through to Takeyoshi: "Dude, you may have been aggressive back there, but other than that you were fantastic!"

"Just learn to control your temper a little, and make that strength work here, and I swear you'll be an excellent addition to the team!" I said with a smile. "Thank you Hakaru, Jin'ichi, Akiyo, Naruki!"

And then we hugged. It finally felt safe to hug Takeyoshi again, and that was satisfying as heck, we saved a kid from losing his mind to a bully. I might tear up a little myself, but that's because Takeyoshi needed help when he needed most. I think Takeyoshi was going to end up with a Palace of his own if it weren't for us, I'm just surprised he made it this far. Jin'ichi and Akiyo were just as proud as I was, and it filled my heart with a warm feeling of friendship, the feeling I've never felt in a long time.

"Um yes, this is a very touching moment, but we still need to check out what's inside!" Naruki breaks the mood as he felt awkward for the group hug. "I know, I'm very scared to go inside, truth be told, I just might pee my pants." I say with a straight face despite my fear, and the fact that I already went to the bathroom.

"We can't do this without you Scalawag." said Jin'ichi. "Just don't go completely bonkers like you did before…" Akiyo said a bit embarrassed as Takeyoshi was slowly recovering: "Don't worry, I won't. If saving Monigami is better than killing him, then I'll do it! I'll save Monigami from himself, no matter what it takes! Now let's go inside already before I change my mind! Just kidding!"

I breathed a breath of relief as I thought he was going to snap again, but thank goodness for our teamwork: "Okay! Let's go!" I shouted as we faced the building once more. Who knows what could've happened in there after what happened yesterday. But at least, now that Takeyoshi is willing to help save Monigami, we can now accomplish our goal without killing Monigami!

I'm so proud of Takeyoshi for changing his mind about making his bully suffer, if you ask me, I think we just changed his heart. If Kamoshida's testimony was anything to go by, I'd bet if we can change Monigami's heart, then we'll all be expert Phantom Thieves in no time!

...but, does the title Phantom Thieves even apply to us now? We're going to do the same thing they do all the time, just with a completely different motive than just 'change the hearts of the crooked adults'. Maybe, we're something even more than just an extra league of Thieves. But we won't know for sure until we first save Monigami from the horror we have created, whether it was intentional or not...

We stood in front of the misleading mansion. Seeing this for the first time was definitely a place that was far beyond anything we had seen before. But just by looking at it now, I could tell something was wrong. At least I felt something every time we found this place, that feeling of greed, the spoils of being a rich man-child, it all plays out perfectly with the environments springing to life and interacting with our every touch. The Shadow's clothes felt like real leather, the table was made of freshly cut wood, and even the pool was realistic by itself.

But now, it felt so empty. With nothing on the outside, and the inside looking like one of those empty doll houses, that once gluttonous feeling I felt from this place was gone. The emptiness was extra unsettling for me, I wasn't that big of a fan of nothing before, but this is a human mind we're talking about. Monigami was scared to death by Takeyoshi and his Palace took that into account in just the wrong way to make me shiver. But I had my friends by my side, even with Takeyoshi regretting what he's done, we still felt sure that our actions won't be for nothing. I just hoped that they would have my back too, even if this place felt completely unnatural...

We entered the mansion through the front door as usual, only to find almost nothing inside the mansion. There were still those golden and white colors we were familiar with, but there's very little trace of anything lively found before. There was no pool, no dining hall, not even one sign of life. It was almost as if someone or something had swallowed all of the life it once had. The tiled floor was perfectly clean, which was normal for Monigami's standards, but I see absolutely nothing that even indicated that it was dirty in the first place.

It gave off that same feeling of nothingness that the outside had, the structure looked the same, but it gave off this strange chill up my spine as we noticed the only thing that was in the room. It was just a staircase that goes down, down, down. It looked like the red carpet staircase from before, but before all of this, it was pointed upward. There was literally nothing else to worry about, the only way we could find Shadow Monigami, and the source of his trauma, would be this very staircase that spirals into the very depths of the unknown.

"What the heck happened here? It looks like the place was completely demolished or somethin'..." Jin'ichi looked around hoping he remembered anything about this place, but all he saw was a perfectly blank room with nothing special about it at all. "Um, Akiyo? I take back what I said about Doll-Hakaru, I miss him so much, where is he…?" Takeyoshi looked at Akiyo with no clue where my other self was. We knew very well what happened to the things he imagined, but we couldn't bring ourselves to tell him yet.

"I-I don't know. I don't understand. This building felt corrupt before, but I have no idea what to make of it now, it's just… nothing. I can't tell if it's good or bad, this place is messing with my senses…" Akiyo was shivering, paralyzed in some sort of state, she felt as if the Palace was telling her that something was definitely wrong with it…

We then noticed the sapphire-blue invincibility charm on the empty tiled floor that Akiyo gave to Doll-Hakaru. Doll-Hakaru couldn't have dropped it, we tried to assume it was something else, but just the mere presence of something from the real world was really implying that something terrible happened to him.

"That's…" Akiyo gasped on the sight of the charm in the wrong spot, and I was just as scared as anyone who loved a toy only to have it be torn to shreds: "The invincibility charm! That's what keeps him from being caught right?" I knew right there that something was clearly wrong with Monigami's mind. The charm should've disappeared with Doll-Hakaru, but this was something from the real world we brought to him, this couldn't be here unless this reality rejected what was once from the other side.

"Yeah… Doll-Harry, I hope you aren't in that much trouble…" Jin'ichi was a tiny bit shook as he looked away in shock, but nothing too serious for him to freak out over...

"Oh no… what have I done…? I didn't want him to disappear, I just..." Takeyoshi was devastated upon seeing the charm upon the floor. If Doll-Hakaru was really gone, Takeyoshi blamed himself for it. He tried to deny Doll-Hakaru was gone, since he was close friends with the doll since day one, but this was heart wrenchingly terrifying for him. If he unintentionally made Doll-Hakaru disappear, despite being a figment of imagination, he would never forgive himself for trying to kill Monigami...

"Doll-Hakaru is okay right? He's probably just waiting for us downstairs to say hi, right...?" "How the heck should I know? Didn't you guys say that doll was a part of Monigami's mind?" Naruki asked as Akiyo answered in theory: "Of course. When Monigami's Palace went haywire, so did all of his creations. His mind, and his state of karma, won't recover until we fix what has been broken..."

"Will we ever see him again?" Takeyoshi looked at Jin'ichi like he was depending on him for answers. But Jin'ichi gave us a serious look in his eyes, if things stayed like they are now, things won't change for the better for Monigami: "Not when the Palace is looking like this, let's go." Jin'ichi signaled us to go down the stairs as I shivered a bit: "Did I forget to mention that I'm a little afraid of suspicious looking staircases?" But I'm not that afraid, at least not for now, I just had to find out what has been going on inside Monigami's mind. I pushed myself to go down while holding Takeyoshi's hand with all my might…

We went down the stairs slowly and carefully. I could feel the mansion slowly fade away as we head further and further into whatever madness Monigami has thought up. The emptiness of the mansion was being slowly replaced by a strange feeling of amalgamation, as if everything that once belonged to this mansion was all crammed down there.

The further down we went, the more scared I was, but I had to force myself to move so that we could see what's going on. We then saw a giant sized maze we were about to enter, it looked like fragments of Monigami's imagination were forced to fuse together into a big near inescapable board.

I could see huge chunks of the interior of the mansion on the walls and broken down pieces of wood in the most unfitting of places. We haven't even been close enough to see all the maze yet, and already I feel this sense of fear. This dread overlapping with my current fear made me freeze up a bit, but Jin'ichi kept me going by nodding his head in confidence. This goes to show, no matter what the situation, Jin'ichi knows how to stay calm and collected even when he's at his darkest hour.

Finally, after we climbed down the last step, the staircase just disappeared into thin air. It must be afraid we might be cheating if we took a better look at the maze. Seeing that we've got something to worry about in front of us, we started to walk slowly and carefully while taking a better look at the horrific scene…

The walls of the maze were golden and white, but not in the fancy painted kind. It was almost like someone just threw both colors on the walls haphazardly and the result was a hideous mixture that looked like some kind of golden barf. The floor was in the same tile pattern as before, but some of these tiles were splashed with the gold from the walls. There was almost nothing to be heard except the screams of the ones in pain...

We saw all sorts of things jammed into the walls, they were originally a part of Monigami's cognition before the Palace went haywire. There were the piranhas, some of those broken dolls, and even the animal heads from the man cave. Every living thing in the walls was screaming and making noises as if they were demanding to be killed with a blank expression on their faces.

They were certainly creeping us out, if this is what happens to Palaces when they break, we'd better be extra careful of the consequences of our actions now… Takeyoshi was beginning to shiver and shake because he now knows that he caused this to happen. When we encountered the dolls for the first time, Takeyoshi didn't seem to mind it until the creepiness began to sit in with him, but now the fear is in plain sight.

I was right there beside him the whole time as we both found ourselves shivering over the ruined landscape. When we came across a fork in the road, we all took the right, we could've split up, but I'm not mentally prepared to go without my friends yet.

So we continued down the dark maze, shaking and shivering all the way while using Naruki's nose to track down Monigami. Eventually, after a couple of twists and turns, we came across a dead end. Before we could turn around though, we heard a faint voice lodged in the walls. It was my voice, it was calling for help. It sounds the same as he was before, but it also sounded so broken and miserable. I was afraid to look, but I had to, and sure enough, my curiosity led to one of the most horrifying things I've ever seen in a long time…

It was Doll-Hakaru's head, his fabric skin was molded onto one of the walls. He lost an eye, his mouth was in an expression of complete agony, and I saw the head twitch occasionally like the other broken dolls, all the while sounding hopeless while still keeping a bit of his mind intact. Takeyoshi broke down upon seeing Doll-Hakaru like this, I don't blame him, I wanted to cry too!

"D-Doll-Hakaru…!" Akiyo said frozen in fear. "Damn, whatever happened here must've been terrible…" Naruki pointed out as he was starting to feel a bit bad himself for just getting to know this version of me. "Doll-Harry, what's going on?" Jin'ichi said distressed as he had never imagined me in a situation like this.

"Heroes… there's something wrong with Monigami…everything is becoming stuck to these walls and his biggest fears are being brought to life… it hurts… every second I'm trapped here is more painful than dying in a horror movie… why Takeyoshi? Why did you have to go and be a monster?" Takeyoshi was frightened by not just the doll-me's pained voice, but the way he just downright blamed someone he knew too well for his suffering, and then he tried to apologize...

"D-Doll-Hakaru, I'm sorry… I-" "No need to be sorry… I can totally understand why you wanted to scare Monigami… but did you have to scare him half to death!? And now look what's happening to me! My body is ruined! My string is gone, even one of my eyes was plunged from my face! This pain won't stop, and it's not just me either! Everything Monigami loves about this place is going down the drain! If nobody stops this madness, I'll perish even more than I have to!" "Doll-Hakaru…" Takeyoshi was tearing up again, for the third time. He knows he did wrong, but if we didn't give him that little talk back there, he would've been even more scared than he is now…

"How do we get you out?" Jin'ichi wondered while looking around aimlessly. Doll-Hakaru was still stressed from the endless limbo he's been enduring, and he shouted for a bit before he returned to his calmer, but more broken state: "You can't! No matter how hard you try, I'll always be stuck here. The only way to fix this mess is to get Monigami himself to the treasure." "Wait, the treasure?" Naruki wondered.

"Normally, a treasure only exists if the ruler wants it to. But when a Palace gets THIS messed up, the treasure manifests itself as a sign of comfort. You must get Monigami to the treasure, if you don't, he'll be consumed by his fears." "Don't worry D-H, we'll find Shadow Monigami and get him to the treasure, no sweat." Jin'ichi says with a wink trying to look cool in front of me, but I know he's scared...

"Hurry! I don't know how much longer I can stay like this! If Monigami isn't cured in time, I'll be gone forever!" "Oh no… Doll-Hakaru! This is all my fault, I shouldn't have been so pushy about trying to confront Monigami in the first place!" Takeyoshi was crying. Akiyo was a bit too scared to muster a word. Jin'ichi and Naruki tried to keep their cool, but I felt something deep inside me snap. A feeling that I'm all too familiar with, one that forces all the fear I had once before to the depths of my mind...

"It's not your fault Takeyoshi. We brought you into this mess and now we're paying the price. It may be too late to take back what memories we had, but the only way we'll be able to save those memories is to save Monigami." "Um… Hero? What ever happened to kicking ass?" Naruki wonders, but my mind was clearer than ever...

"Don't you guys see? We weren't supposed to tamper with a Palace like this. We need to reverse this mistake and save Monigami! If the Phantom Thieves never dealt with something like this before, then we'll just have to power through it until we get it right! Monigami may be a bastard, but that shouldn't mean we should make him suffer! Until this whole thing has been fixed, we must press onward! We must help fix Monigami's Palace before his life takes a turn for the worse! Who's with me?"

I've never felt this confident and inspirational, but it got Jin'ichi, Akiyo and Naruki inspired to do what's right: "Heh. Harry, you are one hell of a boy. I may be up for kicking ass, but when that person is already suffering, I'll be happy to help them." Jin'ichi remembered how he suffered, and what he would do to those who had the same fate as he would have...

"Ah… I can feel it. Your rebellious spirit shows a notice that is exactly what I'm looking for. Purity doesn't come from fighting. It comes from doing what's right." Akiyo put her arms together while shedding a few tears... "Ehh, like I said, it wasn't his damn fault." Naruki smiled at me for what feels like the first time.

"What do you think Scalawag?" Jin'ichi looks at Takeyoshi with a confident grin on his face and Takeyoshi, while still crying a bit, smiles with a resolve to do things the right way. "If it'll get Doll-Hakaru back, and make up for my actions, I'm in!"

"Right. We'll be back for you Doll-Hakaru, I swear on it." I tell him with absolute confidence. "Hurry! I don't know how much longer until I disappear for good!" my doll self still panics, but that only made my emotions flare up and my fears burn down even more...

There's that feeling again, it was the exact same feeling I had when I first met Doll-Hakaru. That tone in his voice was scared and alone, just like I was. Whenever someone reminds me that I'm a coward, or even if I remember that I'm a coward, I just want to prove to everyone that I am not a coward. Because I was a coward, I just stood there in fear as my friend was beaten up, used, and toyed with in every possible way. I feared for my own safety back then, and that was a mistake I'll never make again.

The painful feeling in my heart just won't stop whenever someone or something reminds me that I was just as useless as before. But this motivates me unlike anything else in the world in the world, it's temporary, but until that problem is solved, I can't help but blame myself for my actions. Usually, when I get scared of something like a spider, I just let it happen. But while I'm in this state of mind, not even the biggest spider scares me. That's because I force myself to swallow my fear and let the pain flow through my mind, giving me a false sense of courage.

Seeing Doll-Hakaru like this has forced me to overcome the horrors of this maze. I see body parts dangling from the walls reaching out toward us, voices screeching and screaming and whispering, we even watched another doll melt into the wall in a horrifying fashion. But I forced myself to walk right past it without shouting. This only works if the circumstance is dire for me and my team, and I'm at risk losing them forever or whenever I'm being forced to watch someone else suffer.

Not even my enemies deserve to suffer like this, Kamoshida was a terrible man, but he sounded completely destroyed when he confessed his crimes. I had doubts about this whole change of heart thing at first, but everything else everyone tried, including the aforementioned violence method, didn't work. So when I heard I could experience for myself the mysterious actions of the Phantom Thieves, I couldn't refuse. And now, at this very moment, I wanted to help my enemy instead of hurt him!

Speaking of which, after traversing the maze a bit more, without a single living thing that isn't trapped in the walls in sight, we saw Shadow Monigami running this way. He looks like the same billionaire he once was, but his clothes were all messed up, his wig was gone and his voice sounded more frantic than usual…

He sounded more stressed as he took deep breaths as he tried to recover from… whatever it was chasing him just now: "Oh my god, oh my fucking god, that thing just doesn't stop coming after my ass!" "It's Monigami!" Siren sounded surprised. As soon as this world's Monigami saw us, he started to shake in fear as he started to get a little angry with us for some reason. Who could blame him? You visit a guy's cognitive happy place a couple of times, they'll just blame you for everything.

"Y-You! You dumb fuckers turned my Palace into a house of nightmares, didn't you?! Why did you cunts let that jackass turn into whatever THAT was!?" He points at us aggressively as Scalawag looks at Monigami confused and worried while he says: "What are you talking about?"

Shadow Monigami took a few seconds to process what was going on, but when he finally figured it out he screamed a bit and covered his eyes while shivering all about. It makes sense when you think about it, Shadow Monigami has seen the cruel side of Takeyoshi in his own special way. There was no doubt that when he saw Takeyoshi at that moment, he panicked. We were just as surprised as Takeyoshi as he saw his former bully break down like this…

"Just so we're clear, you don't find this satisfying right?" Naruki checked with Takeyoshi just in case. "No… not at all. This feels so wrong… am I the bully in this situation?" Takeyoshi now feels disturbed upon seeing what has Shadow Monigami become. A frightened little child who just wanted his world to be perfect, I would freak too if I came face to face with a kid like that...

"Y-You dumb fucker! You look just like the Bull! Why the hell are you looking at me like that you bitch!? Get the fuck away from me!" Shadow Monigami expressed his stress and his frustration trying to look angry, but it just sounded more panicked than anything... "The bull?" Jin'ichi couldn't help but wonder what exactly made Monigami so paranoid.

"Who else was I talking about goddamn it! That kid of yours looks exactly like the bull, and I hate it!" "I'm the bull!?" "Yes you… ugh! You were supposed to be a dumb fucking jackass, was that so hard!? Why on Earth did you turn into that bull!?" "W-Well… I…" Takeyoshi tried to explain, but seeing himself be compared to a bull was making him feel a bit uncomfortable. I pushed my fear back some more while Naruki backed Takeyoshi up…

"Just a minute buster, we came here to save your sorry ass!" "I-I don't need help, I don't need anyone! Especially from motherfuckers like you who turn one of my jackasses into a bull!" "And what, pray tell, is this bull?" You had to ask Naruki, you just had to ask...

Just as he finished asking that, we then heard huge stomping coming from behind Shadow Monigami, this scared most of us but for some reason I was completely unafraid, maybe I must've swallowed my fear hard enough to become immune to fear at this moment. We then saw the giant hooves that were ten times bigger than a regular airplane, it was so huge, that we all had to look up and see this giant black bull for ourselves. It's fur was crooked, the tail twitched every so often as a sign of madness, and it looked down on us with a giant head that looked like Takeyoshi's head with two huge horns that were lodged into the messed-up hair of that huge head.

It stared at us coldly with Takeyoshi's own human eye, it even got Takeyoshi's blue baseball cap, all looking a bit more dirty than it was before. "Oh fuck! The bull!" Shadow Monigami showed true fear at that moment, no sign of anger, just a child's fear against the one they once called pathetic. He ran away, but despite the huge size, we tried our best to stop it somehow!

Siren attempted to keep it from moving using her bubbles and charms, Liger tried chomping into its leg, Scalawag was too traumatized to use the whale, and I even tried lifting the bull. We even tried calling out our Personas one by one, as we used our projectiles and roars, and attacked with full fury!

Nothing, and I mean nothing worked. No matter how hard we try, the bull didn't feel anything but the cold emptiness of its heart... That's when I began to feel helpless again, every time I feel helpless, I panic! It doesn't matter what I was thinking beforehand, if someone makes me feel too helpless, I'll snap out of whatever I was doing and scream at the top of my lungs while holding up my arms to my head: "Aaaaaaahhh!"

"You've got to be shitting me…" Jin'ichi couldn't beat him. He found an expression that was too similar to the ones he considered to be completely homicidal, and who else would have it but the young kid he called friend? He was completely devastated seeing a creature make a face that insane, and he never felt this scared since his days before he became tough...

"My god…" I can get why Akiyo was scared with her hands covering her mouth, it's because she could sense the corrupt and the pure with near flawless accuracy. When she saw the bull, it was probably even more corrupt than anything she could imagine. She tried to tune into the light side, but it was no use, this creature has no light.

"Oh crap..." Naruki was apparently not as scared, but kinda a little shaky due to how weak he is in comparison. At least he knows when to back down from somebody bigger than his own size...

"Uh… ah… oh… he…lp…" as for Takeyoshi, oh no, he looked completely afraid of himself. He has never seen himself make a face that frightening, and it was the exact same expression he made when he snapped at Monigami. Now that it's being used against him, he stood there, frozen in absolute fear. He cried three times before the bull showed up, and every time before then we managed to cheer him back up. This was the last straw, he couldn't take all of this fear and his eye rained down near endless tears as he stuttered trying to process what was going on.

I never felt so useless, and sorry for Takeyoshi and his overwhelming feelings of regret. Things only got worse from there, we heard the bull speak, similar to how Doll-Hakaru normally speaks, but it sounded exactly how Takeyoshi sounded when he threatened the real Monigami: "Go away. You are keeping me from my prey."

"Takeyoshi! How the hell do we beat this thing!?" Naruki shouts confused and shaken by the voice. Akiyo started to cry a bit on her own as she expressed her sorrow: "No… stop… you'll make him worse…" I couldn't tell if Akiyo was referring to the bull or to Takeyoshi. But it didn't matter, I was too scared to think straight and all of that built-up fear from inside me started to bubble up like crazy…

"Goddamn… What should we do Hero?" Jin'ichi says while he bit his lip. He looked at me and saw a man who had teeth that were chattering off the walls and a true cowardly instinct: "I… I… I…" I tried to get a word or two out of my mouth, but the situation was too much for me to handle on my own.

"Hero? Harry! What's wrong?!" Jin'ichi gets worried as he now knows I'm scared nearly to death of this sudden feeling of helplessness. I couldn't take it anymore as I screamed: "Run!!!" I ran away like the coward I am, despite me claiming that I wouldn't be scared all that while ago. But when you've got a bull with a creepy child's face on it, especially if that face was one of your best friends, that motive becomes perfectly relatable. The rest of the crew followed my lead as Naruki grabbed Takeyoshi, and they ran for the hills with the bull right behind us!

We ran for our dear lives as if they meant the world to us! Naruki transformed into a monster truck so that we could get away faster. We hopped in as fast as we could and Akiyo did Takeyoshi's seatbelt for him as we drove away from the stomps that sounded like an earthquake. The bull childishly roared as it chased our truck back through the maze, past all the things that almost scared me in the first place. I wanted to look away, but I was so busy being hung up in fear right now, Jin'ichi had to drive. He picked up Shadow Monigami when we bumped into him again, and we drove underneath the beast's legs as it roared even louder.

We kept racing through the maze as fast as we could, Akiyo helped with directions while me, Monigami and Takeyoshi were shivering off the hook. Every time we hit a dead end, we took a quick U-turn under the beast. It almost crushed us about three times, but we sure didn't want to make it a fourth! After about eight wrong turns and fourteen close calls, we see an ancient stone temple that connects the entire maze together, thankfully the hole is small enough so the monster can't get in!

"Look! It's the temple!" Akiyo points out with caution. "I see it!" Jin'ichi shouts violently as he stomps on the gas as hard as he can. "Hey, all of that running has made me thirsty! Where's my goddamn sippy cu-" Shadow Monigami almost finished his usual bossy demands before Naruki shouted so loud, you could barely hear a roar come out of him: "Will you just shut the hell up!? We're saving your sorry ass this time, don't make me feed you to that thing!" after saying that Shadow Monigami didn't say anything as we approached the temple...

We drove right up the stone staircase and into the temple entrance as we almost got eaten by the bull's insanely huge mouth. It smashed it's head into the temple as we saw a few rocks crash down on Naruki's hood. He turned back to normal as we hear the bull roar in defeat, the footsteps get quieter and quieter as it wanders away from the temple.

We were still trying to recover as I was hyperventilating like crazy, Shadow Monigami was sucking on his thumb and Takeyoshi recovered from his frozen state, but now he started to cry: "I don't like this anymore! I wanna go home!" I wanted to go home too, but not before getting to the bottom of this! But still, what if the bull comes back for more!?

"So, does that answer your fucking question...?" Jin'ichi says to Naruki while being stressed out. "Well… kinda. But what the hell was that!? It was like some sort of aggressive beast or something!" Naruki snaps as the rage he couldn't feel finally caught up to him.

"I-I don't know! If Takeyoshi must've been that aggressive towards Monigami, a monster must've been forged from the spoiled brat's subconscious!" Oh wow, even when she's scared Akiyo makes theories based on what she can figure out from the Cognitive World...

"I just got my powers like, two days ago, and now all this shit is happening!? I think I should've stayed home…" Naruki tries to keep calm, but still fails. "This is terrible! We can't get the treasure at this rate! We need to fix Monigami's mind!" Akiyo says being terrified of not just the consequences anymore, she's now terrified of the bull, just like we all are…

"Yeah, but first… we have to fix them. They must be taking this sudden turn of events too hard…" Jin'ichi, you couldn't be any more right! "Okay. You get Hakaru, I'll help Takeyoshi." Akiyo insisted, that just means Naruki is left with...

"What!? Hey wait a minute, how come I'm stuck with filthy rich!?" "You've been with a millionaire for a long time, it's obvious that you should know what he wants…" Jin'ichi says as he walks over to my nervous wreck of a body.

I've never actually been scared of Takeyoshi's own face before! I can see why Monigami was freaking scared out of his mind, but did he really have to make something that scares the dickens out of me too!? With no idea what to do next, I was shivering like crazy trying to remain calm, but Jin'ichi spoke in that familiar comforting voice he was well known for...

"Hey, Harry? Are you okay?" "N-No, I'm not okay. This was the first time I've completely panicked in this world, and that bull… he just won't stop for anything!!" "Harry, this is no time to be hysterical. If you wanna get rid of the bull, you'd have to pull yourself together." "H-How can I do that, when there's a giant bull outside?"

"The bull isn't gonna get you, nothing is going to get you as long as you face your fears head-on. That's what you taught me, right? To face one's fears you'll have to believe you can? Remember our goal: save Monigami's mansion so that we can get that treasure later and get him to confess his sins. That was your main goal, to save those who couldn't save themselves. And right now Harry, it looks like you need some saving yourself…"

Jin'ichi… I knew from the beginning that my kindness would be paid back somehow, and this was one of the reasons why I needed someone else. All this time, I needed someone desperately to comfort me whenever the going gets tough, whenever it wasn't my sister, it was my own thoughts trying to calm me down. I've never been this scared in a long time, it almost made me die from fear, and if I hadn't helped Jin'ichi when he needed it, he wouldn't be here trying to help me back on my feet…!

"Yeah… yeah! The bull can't get in anyway, so I think I've got this! Thanks, Jin'ichi — I mean Gremlin!" I hug Gremlin to cheer myself up, he pats my back in response. I used to think that I only get this kind of comfort for when I feel sad or anything that's not myself, I also thought that cowardliness leads to this kind of comfort. But this doesn't feel cowardly, I felt true fear back there, and to tell the truth, I didn't think I was going to recover. But now, I feel much better that I have someone new to comfort me, I guess that's just one of the perks of being a nice guy.

Meanwhile, Akiyo was hugging a crying Takeyoshi telling him that everything is going to be okay, while of course using her soothing charms to further calm him down. As for Naruki and Shadow Monigami…

"Hey. Quit acting like a dumb baby already." "Hmmm…!?" I think I see where this is going, Naruki is pushing Monigami's buttons: "Aren't you supposed to be the one who broke Jin'ichi's mother and bullied the shit out of Takeyoshi? And to think, I was hoping our future battle was going to be extremely hard."

Well that certainly got his attention, he pulled out the thumb, stood back up straight and started ranting angrily as Naruki kept smiling for some reason: "Now listen here you pussycat! I don't need any pity from you! I don't need anything from you thieves! You wrecked my mansion, ruined my swimming pool and dinner, you turned my jackass into that thing, and now you want to help me!? Forget it you dumb sons of bitches! I'll see to it myself that I get my treasure back!"

Shadow Monigami walks into the distance for about a couple seconds and then screams as he runs back to us and falls to the ground. Liger chuckles a bit as he points his thumb embarrassingly at him. Shadow Monigami dusts himself off as we all stare at him awkwardly. It would appear that he has successfully cheered us up again. "Well?" Naruki looks at Shadow Monigami with a smirk as Shadow Monigami is hesitant to ask for help...

"Grr…. Fine! I could use a little assistance getting my treasure! But this does not mean we are friends! That goes for you too Takeyoshi! Just because I'm scared to death of your face, doesn't mean I'm not gonna buddy up with a squirt like you!" Takeyoshi smiled upon seeing Monigami asking for their help, because even he knows by now that this guy was seriously messed up. This was the perfect opportunity to redeem himself, and he shows it with confidence: "Fair enough. I just hope we don't run into that bull again, it looked creepy."

"Relax young one, the bull can't get us in here… I think…" Akiyo sounds a bit unsure but I had to get the crew back on their feet after that: "Well, standing around here won't do us any favors. Let's get going." Scalawag scouts ahead as Shadow Monigami looked at Liger with disgust: "Also, I really hate this cat."

"Glad I could help, now what the heck is this place anyway?" Liger smiles even though that was an insult, maybe he's still chuckling from the humiliation he saw from Monigami. Scalawag looked at us with awe as he got our attention: "Whoa! Guys, you might wanna check this out!"

We looked out from the stone hallway and saw something that looked exactly like a dream. All of Monigami's favorite things were orange silhouettes floating through the purple illusionist sky, I could hear his voice saying all kinds of stuff that relates to his personality, the ground was also purple and it felt a bit mushy, like the human brain. Shadow Monigami cleared his throat and introduced us to this strange sight…

"This is the Temple of Family. It's the big thing that ties my Palace to the floor. Unlike the Palace above, which represents everything I love, a Temple represents the feelings the ruler would rather hide underneath all of their desires. A Temple only physically appears whenever the ruler is in great peril, something like a negative change in Cognition, this'll cause my damn Treasure to manifest itself inside here! The only way I'm going to get my Treasure back is to endure my own disgusting past self! Wait… why am I even telling you jerks about this stuff!? I shouldn't have to explain anything to you motherfuckers!"

"So the Palace represents who they are, but the Temple represents who they were?" Siren was still amazed with the concept of the depths of the human mind, especially with all of these shapes flying around that represent the more positive side of Monigami. This alone just proves that even though someone has negative emotions, this feels like the only place where it feels strangely calm and relaxed compared to the rest of the Palace.

"Whoa! I didn't know you liked hot dogs, I love hot dogs!" Scalawag says while looking at the shape of a hot dog. Shadow Monigami rolls his eyes before getting our attention: "If you morons are done looking at the yucky positive side of things, I'd suggest you take a look down there…"

He points straight ahead, and we see these Shadows that looked naked and more human-like, but they were completely engulfed in black with a mask that has a twisted expression, like the ones that those serial killers wear in horror films. I felt a bit frightened by their appearance as their feet dragged along the ground slowly like a zombie. They looked at a strange pod, and then one of them opened it up to reveal a physical manifestation of one of Monigami's desires.

It was an alcohol bottle, as to be expected since we learned that he liked alcohol a long time ago, but the bottle itself felt blank and empty with no label at all. Just an ordinary bottle with green paper wrapped around and the brown liquid contained inside it. Suddenly, one of the Shadows pulled off their masks while screeching in pain as a mouth-hole was forming.

The mouth barfed a strange black substance all over the interior of the pod, filling it up until the bottle was completely gone. The pod then closed itself as it started to shake a bit, and then… POP! That pod exploded as the ground slowly absorbed the black liquid as the temple shook a bit while we heard Monigami's screams fill the temple while the place slowly fell apart. We looked around, every Shadow in this Temple was doing the exact same thing to the other pods. This led us to believe that they must be trying to turn what positive traits Monigami has into pure darkness.

"Shadows? What are they doing here?" Gremlin asked. "Not just any Shadows, these Shadows weren't originally made by yours truly. These sons of bitches are trying to cover up my good memories with their sludge, so I can't use them to comfort myself, if those numbskulls get their slimy little fingers on my Treasure…!" Shadow Monigami told us while fearing that the temple might shake again.

"T-Then, your real self will never get any better!?" Siren concluded with a disturbed look on her face. Monigami smirks and then points to her: "You catch on quick, for a whore." Siren blushed to that response as she looked away in shame.

"Guys, we need to stop those Shadows from reaching the treasure and Monigami's other memories!" I said with confidence in myself. "What's the plan?" Liger asked as Gremlin came up with one: "We'll split up. We'll go after the Shadows since we're more used to combat. Scalawag will escort Monigami to the treasure."

"What!?" Both kids shouted as Scalawag looked at Monigami with regret and panic, while he looked at Scalawag with fear and anger… "But guys, I almost killed him! How can you trust me with a bully after what I've done!?" Scalawag worried about his sanity, after that nightmare of a maze, he felt like he became a monster...

I had to help him get over his regret if he wants to help us, so I looked at Scalawag through the eyes of a hero and gave him encouragement like I always did: "Look, if you two want to save this Palace, and then change his heart, you'll have to put your differences and fears aside and work together! I'm counting on you Scalawag, now's the perfect opportunity to redeem yourself!"

Scalawag was still a bit nervous about helping, but he knew that he had to become someone better than himself, so he nodded: "Hero… are you sure I'll be able to control myself?" "I know you can." I tell him as he begins to smile while regaining his confidence in himself.

Shadow Monigami knew exactly what answer he wanted as he aggressively pointed at Scalawag: "Oh no! You worthless cunts aren't making me pair up with this bull! And there's nothing you can say to change my fucking mind!" Liger walked over to Monigami as he put his big cat paw on his shoulder and smirked: "Well it's either him or me, and trust me, I am not one to be messed with…"

Gremlin whispers into Monigami's ear like it was a good thing: "The cat's got a point…" this scared Monigami into running over to Scalawag as his stubbornness kept conflicting with the screams we keep hearing in the Temple: "Okay! Okay! I'll go with the stupid bull!" "Let's go guys. We have no time to lose!" I rally the four up as we dashed full speed into the Shadows while Scalawag and Monigami went a different direction through a small hole near an unopened pod and a broken pod.

The four of us rushed the Shadows and pulled off their masks. They took the form of two of Monigami's least favorite things, which makes sense seeing while the top has delusional Shadows, this one has more fearful Shadows. A fishing related Shadow, which means he hates fishing, and an energy related one, that means he hates exercise. These Shadows must have taken the shape of Monigami's worst fears in an attempt to drive him into fear. We can't let something that cruel happen to him, or else he'll be crushed by the trauma and be unable to confess the truth! We pull off our masks while Liger roars as we call upon our inner strength.

"Go Hercules!"

"Rock and roll 'em! Gizmo!"

"Awaken, Ariel!"

"Striped Namean!"

Our Personas rise up in a blast of fury! Hercules swings his mighty fist and smashes the fishing monster, Gizmo and Striped Namean bite down hard on the energy monster. Ariel uses her mermaid breath to create a bubble barrier for each of us so that we can withstand one attack each from more approaching Shadows. They heard the commotion and started running extra fast towards us with growling noises and screams that sounded very psychopathic.

As we keep fighting, my confidence keeps rising up to the point that I don't feel even the slightest amount of fear. I placed my faith in Scalawag, he knows exactly what to do and I believed in his skills. We couldn't afford Takeyoshi lashing out on his bully again, but alas, we must buy them enough time to go in, get the treasure, and leave! Things have never been this risky for us, we can't lose now! One little slip up will spell doom for Monigami's mental health...

---

[T.A.K.E.Y.O.S.H.I]

Everything I have been through was leading up to this moment. I'm not sure what I thought of it at first, but now I'm ready for anything. After I single handedly defeated the real Monigami, my friends and I celebrated our victory at my place. My place was perfect for parties like this, and anyone my age can see why in a second…

The room is mostly blue, my favorite color, with all kinds of toys and posters of whales scattered around on the dresser. A wooden bookshelf is filed with all kinds of books about things I might want to learn about later. The floor has one big rug with one big whale in the middle, and my fluffy bed may be a little messy, but I remember to remake it every night.

My friends and I brought the stuff to celebrate our victory against Monigami. Reo brought the huge chunks of ice cream, as well as the cones and those delicious nuts. Yuki brought a boom-box with pop music blasting at full volume. My parents don't mind if I make noise, but if it's an emergency we'd have to scream extra loud in case of one. For some reason, Hakaru, Jin'ichi, Akiyo and Junko didn't show up to the party. Oh well, they must have other plans.

"I must say Takeyoshi, I never should've doubted your skills." Yuki said while munching on some frozen strawberry yogurt he had for himself. "Yeah! You showed that Moni-dummy, and now he's never gonna bother us again!" Reo hogs an entire chocolate tub to himself, I would've stopped him, but I think they deserved the fun. We were all under Monigami's little thumb and we couldn't do anything to stop him, but now here we are, celebrating our victory!

"Aw that's nothing, one time I squashed an entire mob of Shadows with a whale!" I boasted while licking my store-bought ice cream cone. Yummy… "A real whale? How big was it?" Yuki wondered as he paused for a second. "Very big!" I answered while my strawberry ice cream was slowly lowering itself into the cone.

"That's amazing! Your tall tales keep getting more and more wild!" Reo says with food in his mouth. That's right, as far back as I can recall, I've established a reputation as a pro story-teller! People would gather around to see me tell things that feel true, but they aren't. But nowadays, since Monigami showed up, I pretty much just tell these stories in private. I would tell them I'm a Phantom Thief, but I have to stay under the radar in case the Phantom Thieves bloom in popularity.

"Yeah! And thanks to my dad, the expert-blacksmith, and thanks to my mom, the origami-mistress, I'm proud to say that I've finally got my revenge on Monigami!" My friends clapped as I raised my sword into the air, I could've told them about the team that made this possible, but they're having too much fun to know who I'm hanging with, and I'd bet they wouldn't want to be around them anyway.

So after that, we ate some popcorn while watching the same sci-fi movie we watched when we were starting out as friends. Reo got brain-freeze from the food he ate, Yuki took his time to explain the same dramatic plot twists every time. And then we all simultaneously went to sleep. I had some nightmare that my real team was in some sort of maze, and then we were eaten by this big black cow who was chasing us, but that's not going to happen!...

How stupid was I to ignore it. I could've just paid attention and warned the crew about what's coming, but no, my ego was inflated like a balloon you'd win in the carnival. As a result, when I heard from the crew that Monigami's Palace was still there, I wanted him to pay the price for spawning that place. Everything in that kid's mind is delusional, why should I care if his Palace is back? If anything, I just didn't get the message clear to his head. He was a pathetic piece of scum on the face of the world, and I wanted nothing to do with this.

Even when I was told I might get revenge on his Cognitive self, and after I was informed that the Palace had gone haywire, I still wanted no part with this silly adventure. Why waste time going into somebody's head, when the real world brings the best result? That was what I thought before the team told me that killing him, or scaring him to death wasn't exactly the best option. I felt regret for doing something that horrible to him, and that just made me the bully instead of him. And what's worse, as the result of my actions, the mansion felt empty and abandoned like a warehouse filled with normal boxes.

I went through a maze, almost like the one in my dream, with walls covered in gold paint that looked like someone just said 'Ah who cares' and then just splashed gold all over the walls. There's all kinds of stuff jammed into the walls, I tried making a game out of it, but I was too surprised to try. This maze was created when I pushed myself too far, this must mean we'd have to get to the bottom of this to help Monigami's Shadow deal with it.

When we reached a dead-end, I saw Doll-Hakaru's head, jammed into a wall, with only one eye and his face frowned like Jin'ichi's Mom's doll. I couldn't believe I would do something like this, Doll-Hakaru was one of my favorite things about Monigami's mind, why did I just give him up!? I knew something was wrong with him when one of Akiyo's charms was on the floor in the mansion, but I never thought it would lead to this! But things got worse, very very worse!

I saw Shadow Monigami, panicking at my sight and he told me I was a bull. What kind of bull!? That's when it hit me, you can't spell 'Bully' without 'Bull' right? Well, whatever it was I thought about in my dream came true! The maze, the running, and the cow! Only it wasn't a cow, it was a literal bull! A bull the size of a whale, with shaggy fur and horns sticking out of my old hat. And when I took a look at the face, I froze. I never thought I could be so terrifying until now, the nightmare I had was completely right!

I couldn't do anything but watch as my friends failed to defeat this unstoppable creature. I eventually closed my eye and shivered in fear of the bull-y I became, and when I became unfrozen, I felt every amount of fear that Monigami had felt when I made that cold hard stare into his brain. I cried, not because of what I've done, but what I became. Monigami now thinks of me as the bully, and the tables have turned for the worst…

Akiyo came to cheer me up. She hugged me, it felt like my mother, and she used a charm to get me to calm down more. She stroked my hair as she said with her calm soothing voice: "Shh, it will be alright my child. You didn't mean to make him think like that, I know you wanted vengeance, but being aggressive won't solve your problems. There's no need to fear what you've become, all that matters to you now, is that cute little smile on your face."

"B-But, Monigami…he's…I...It's all my fault…!" "Do not fear little one, everyone has their corrupt moments. I once had motives as bitter as you were, with the mindset of a divine punisher, I was almost about to do what you had done, until you saved me. If it weren't for your wonderful way with words, I would still be just as cruel as you were back there. There is only one way you can save yourself from ruin now that you have sinned; You must overcome your bitter hatred for Monigami and help him just as we have helped you."

Another speech, this time by the very lady I helped just a few days ago. She managed to cheer me up enough to hug her, but I still didn't feel well enough to overcome myself. I just wasn't ready to face the bull again, but when the team was forced to split up, they paired me with Shadow Monigami. I had to work with my archenemy while the rest of the team fought against the Shadows inhabiting this place.

There's no doubt about it, I had to fight the bull again, this time all by myself. I wanted to help the others beat up Shadows, I liked doing that, but everyone's counting on me, I wasn't ready to let go of that trust just yet! So despite my feelings against it, I had to help Shadow Monigami recover his treasure so he can turn this place back to normal.

I was not used to helping an enemy, but seeing him like this made me feel sorry for the chubby kid. It actually reminded me of my first days of being bullied. I was crying and shivering just like he was now, I knew right there and then that the one I called 'Bully' needed my help more than ever. Every good relationship starts with an apology, unfortunately Monigami keeps his distance because he's still afraid of me. There must be some way I can get him to snap out of this fear, but how?

"Monigami, you said your Treasure was the key to fixing this mess… why is it though?" I wonder, but Monigami is still shivering in fear: "Um… promise me you will not turn into that fucking bull? I can't stand it!" "Oh heck no! I'm through being mean to others because they were being mean to me! If there is nobody that's gonna stop that bull, then it's up to me to protect you from it!" I feel like Hero right now, he entrusted me with escorting Monigami, and I won't let anything happen to him before we take the treasure!

"Okay… I learned about this through rumors and the occasional Mementos news station: As a way to comfort the rulers of Palaces, whenever their rule is in grave danger, a Temple will appear that'll contain their Treasure. It's up to the current ruler to do whatever they can to do a Palace-reboot using their treasure." He says a bit shaken, still a bit untrustworthy of my will.

"Palace-reboot?" I asked, and he nodded. "If the treasure is grabbed here, then the real self will remember that desire, and the whole Palace turns back to normal!" "Wow! And then we're supposed to steal it ourselves when the Palace is normal again, right Monigami?" I said amazed as Monigami got a little mad for that statement...

"What!? No! After the Palace is fixed then the treasure will disappear again unless I know when it's going to be stolen! My god, sometimes even you can be stupid enough to plan against an untrustworthy person like myself…" His rage would normally make me shiver in fear, but when your enemy becomes a nervous wreck because of you, it makes you miss the way they once were: "Oh man, doesn't that just remind you how much of a jackass I was?" I smiled at him as he began to feel like his old self again, I'm starting to cheer him up!

"Hey… that actually felt good! I've completely forgotten how fun it was to pick on you Takeyoshi! You know what? I think that bull is just nothing but a big old piece of shit! It has your ugly mug on it, so I'm not that scared of it!" "So Monigami, you've finally gotten over your feelings of the bull?"

Shadow Monigami smirked, that devilish feeling of his was a sight for sore eyes: "Hell, if that thing shows up right now, I wouldn't even be fucking scared of it! You hear that bull!? I'm through being fucked by you, from now on, it will be me who does all the fucking around here now!"

Little did we realize that this section of the temple was big enough for one giant bull to run through. It was purple and mushy, and just as needlessly big as the maze was. Seriously, if Monigami designed this temple, he did a bad job. All of a sudden, kapow! The big black Takeyoshi-bull smashed through the right wall! Rocks fell to the floor as they made the ground move up and down like a big bowl of pudding! We looked up at its cruel face, and it was the same cruel face as before. And now it wants to eat us for dinner!? I didn't even eat the snacks I bought yet!

I was so scared of it last time, combined with all the other bad things I unintentionally did, that I froze up when I saw myself portrayed as the giant cow from my nightmares! But now that I've seen it a second time, and realized my mistake, it's not as scary as before, but it's still got that look that has 'Die' written all over it!

"Oh no! It's the bull!" I shouted as my bull-like self talked back to Monigami, who was just as scared as Hero was back when we first met him… "You don't deserve your treasure…let me put you out of your misery…" I never said that!!! "I was kidding!!!" Shadow Monigami started running for his life as I attempted faced myself once more… before running away myself.

Let me tell you this now, when Monigami heard me sound like that, it was horrifying to his ears because the little worm he thought I was before became a giant spider! When I first heard myself talk like that to me, my heart shattered into a million pieces, how could I've been so cruel!? I never felt so sorry for myself in my life, the team was only trying to help me become someone better, not lash out against someone who doesn't deserve it…

We both ran down the hallway as fast as we could as the bull was trying to keep up as I continuously fired my cannon at the beast! It may not work that well, but it's great for a little speed boost! Just then, we see a bright light straight ahead. It was coming from up those stairs and on top of that pedestal!

"It's the Treasure! My lucky two thousand yen bill!" "Two thousand yen bill!? That was the big treasure?" "Jealous much?" He smirked a bit as we both ran up the stairs as fast as we could.

The bull roars as it stomps on the floor hard as it knocks Monigami down the stairs and near the bull's giant feet! It stomps down on top of Monigami ensuring his doom and I stopped before I could grab the Treasure. "OH SHIT!!! Don't just stand there you stupid fuck, grab the treasure!!!" He screamed both angry and afraid. I looked at the treasure, and then at him, but I couldn't just make him suffer any more than he already has.

If I did take the treasure, that'll consume him in fear, and he might die for real! I didn't want this, I never wanted any of this to happen to him!! "I-I can't do it! You don't deserve to die, nobody deserves it!!" "What the fuck is wrong with your motherfucking head!? I spilled my drink on you, I punched you, I scared you, I took your money, and I threatened Junko, why the fuck are you thinking that I'm not evil!?"

I shake my head in response: "I'm not saying you aren't evil. But, if you die now, then your parents will hate my family and friends for the rest of their lives. It's like what I've said before, human lives mean everything, and right now, you matter the most to me…" I stood up as I looked at the bull who tried to intimidate me with my own words…

"You brought this on yourself. He didn't know you would snap, and because of this, he now fears you as the monster you are. Why do you insist on helping him, after all that he's done…?" "Because bull-me, I never wanted him to die like this! At first, I thought that violence in the real world would make him stop, but that only made things worse! There's no way that I'll kill him now, because that'll make me no better than he ever was!"

Shadow Monigami looked at me in disbelief, he never thought his own enemy would say something like that, and he tried to deny it with the hoove against his chubby stomach: "Takeyoshi, you goddamn fool, why…!?" The bull-me looked at me twitching, knowing too well that I might do something to retaliate…

"Don't be stupid. You wanted him to die all along. You can't deny the pain you made him feel, not after what he did to you. If you won't kill him, then allow me to eat the leftovers on my plate…" I never thought I could make leftovers sound intimidating. I watched the bull open my mouth wide enough to hold a small house! It was going to eat him unless I did something about this! But, if I steal the Treasure now, then his Palace will be gone, but I'll never get a chance to say goodbye to Doll-Hakaru…

I remembered all the bad things that he's done, but they were no longer enough to make me hate him as much as I did before. My choice was clear. I wasn't gonna let me eat Monigami like this! This was about saving his life, not making him suffer! I dashed down the stairs and fired my cannon at the bull's mouth. I imagined the cannonball to be big enough to fit my mouth, and sure enough, it actually worked!

The bull's mouth was stuffed as he tried to spit it out to no avail. I grabbed Shadow Monigami's arm and helped him on his feat. "Are you okay?" I asked him. "No! That bull is going to spit that fucking choke hazard out any second now!" He was still shivering upon the sight of the bull, but I knew what to do: "Don't worry, I'll finish him off in one big attack!" I said with a determined expression on my face.

I threw my sword as high as I could, I held my hands out in front of me and closed my lone eye. I pictured the sword that was flung into the air as something entirely different. With all my might, I called out as the sword began to glow a bright yellow…

"Oh magic sword... turn into a giant whale!!"

The sword turned giant as the metal slowly converted into the blubbering skin of a humpback whale. I did my best to think big, so I pointed my fingers at my head to amp up the thinking power! The whale was suddenly even bigger than the bull and it crushed it like a giant pancake! The whale turned back into a sword as the bull went unconscious and was starting to disappear in a black sludge. Shadow Monigami was shocked that a kid like me actually saved his life, I was more surprised that I actually saved my enemy's life.

"Huh!? I did it! I fought myself, all by myself! I can't wait until the others get a load of me now!" I boasted proudly as I noticed Shadow Monigami, still in shock upon seeing what happened. I looked at him with a smile on my face, he still was trying to process what just happened...

"You… saved me? But why!? I'm the bully who tormented you for so long, aren't you fucking pissed at me!? You should've let me die!!" I nodded my head as I spoke in a calm manner, something I never did in a long time with him: "Yes. But not enough to see you suffer."

He looked back and forth between me and the treasure, he angrily punched my side, but not enough to make it hurt: "Why aren't you taking the Treasure!? It's literally right there dammit! Just end it already so you could get your revenge!!"

I chose not to grab it, it's too early to get the treasure: "I'd rather do it right, when you have control over the battleground. Remember, if I take it now, then you'll be consumed by fear. No one deserves to suffer, especially if the suffering means that the Palace looks like this! I honestly loved your Palace, the pool, the food, and even the ball pit reminded me so much about you. I want to make things right, not make things worse…"

He twitches and threatens to punch again, but I don't budge, I'm not afraid of him anymore, but I'm not vengeful either, just glad that he's slowly becoming his old self again: "Seriously!? You're just going to let me have what I want!? Do something before I do it for you!!" "No. Don't you see, you've always done things that let you have what you want. I don't want this to be the exception, take the Treasure for now, but we'll be back for it soon. If I were you, I would expect another visit from us, my friends and I will be ready for you. Good luck!" No way am I going to ruin Monigami's change of heart for us, I've caused enough pain to know when to stop.

He tried to assume otherwise, but realizing that I'm now perfectly alright with him taking what's rightfully his, he started to loosen his fist and smirk at my foolishness: "What…? You're really stupid enough to let me take my Treasure back…? You know… you aren't exactly the jackass I thought you were… but that doesn't mean I think of you any higher than that! Compared to me, you are nothing but a little dog begging for mercy!" "I can live with that. Now grab your Treasure Monigami! We'll be waiting for you." I said calm and collected.

"Fine. I guess I will be expecting you tomorrow, make sure you tell my real-self about this..." "Thank you bully!" I say proudly. Normally this would annoy me, but I guess even the most undeserving people need a second chance…

"Stop it. I don't need your pity! I'll fucking kill you if you don't stop Takeyoshi!" "I wouldn't want it any other way Monigami…" Monigami looks a bit embarrassed, which is a good thing for us. To think that this is Monigami's true self, he's starting to show small amounts of change, and I couldn't ask for anything more.

He slowly climbs up the stairs and grabs his bill and kisses it as I watched him with respect in my heart. Who would've thunk? One moment I was trying to kill Monigami, the next I suddenly realized why Hakaru wanted to help him. He may be bad, but he wasn't always this way. I guess this was what he meant by saving those who couldn't save themselves. As far as I can tell, we're not exactly thieves, we're heroes through and through.

Suddenly the entire place started shining with a bright light. A large flash happened that knocked me unconscious. When I woke up, we were back in the club house. The others were just as unconscious as I was, so I can wait to tell them what just happened back there! But even so, I still couldn't help but feel sorry for the way I acted yesterday and earlier today, but I've got a feeling that this won't be the last time I'll be able to do stuff like this.

I'll make everyone proud. My friends, my team, my family, they all believe in me. Don't get me wrong, I still kinda don't like Monigami, but it's not to the extent that I want to kill him anymore. I know what happens to those who suffer by the hands of the suffered, and it's completely and utterly terrifying! I don't want to end up as a bully myself, but that doesn't mean I can't do what I do best: Help people who have suffered, even with those I can't agree with! I may not have a rebellious spirit, but I know that if my friends count on me, I'll count on them too!

---

[H.A.K.A.R.U]

Ow, what just happened? The last thing I remember was me trying to punch a Shadow in the face, when all of a sudden, a bright flash knocked us unconscious. We all somehow ended up back at the clubhouse all safe and sound for some reason, but I'd bet I knew exactly why I'm suddenly on my rug. As we started to come around, Takeyoshi was already awake and happy to see us. Not in an exciting way, but rather a perfectly calm and collected way. We've almost never seen him like this before, which confused us for a second until he cleared things up.

"Um… guys? Why are we back at the clubhouse?" I wondered while I checked my face to see if it's still okay. "I think we've been ejected from the app…" Jin'ichi said scratching his head. "Or rather, the app shut itself off when Monigami got the treasure right?" Akiyo says while also starting to come around. "That's right. I defeated the bull all by myself using a giant whale!" Takeyoshi cheered as I felt a little cheated.

He managed to defeat the bull with a whale, while my powers didn't do jack! But still, I'm impressed he handled this whole thing by himself, in fact I couldn't be any more proud of the little guy. He fought himself and won, and knowing that made me smile for him.

"You really love whales don't you?" Naruki rolls his eyes like it's impressive or something. "They're my favorite animal, next to ligers." Takeyoshi winked as Akiyo smiled with her hands clapped together: "Aw…" Naruki blushed a bit before pushing Takeyoshi away: "Whoa boy, don't get too close and personal…"

"So, about the Palace, you think it's going to turn back to normal?" I was a bit concerned as I looked at the app cautiously. "I hope so, I don't want this to be the last time I see Doll-Hakaru." Takeyoshi said being a bit hopeful. He smiled knowing he just saved his arch-enemy, and even though Monigami is a spoiled brat, someone just has to save him from the life he was living.

We noticed Jin'ichi didn't say much, mostly because he was on the phone with someone. He looked at us using a confused expression because someone special had called him: "Um guys? HEX just called, he wants us to meet with him in the usual spot." Jin'ichi said scratching his head after he was on the phone shortly after waking up.

"Wait… he called you!?" A call from a mysterious guy like him doesn't exactly spell good in my book, Akiyo seems to agree with me as she was just as concerned as I was: "I noticed he wasn't exactly sociable, but why a call?" "Dunno, must be something important." Jin'ichi shrugged like he doesn't know how HEX works, I feel your pain dude.

"Maybe for you, but I'll just sit this one out. No way am I getting cramped into that box again." Naruki relaxed himself on the rug as Takeyoshi jumped up and down excited to meet him again: "Oh boy! I wonder what he's going to tell us!"

We humans ran on over to the usual spot, we saw HEX in the same position he's always in, next to a wall looking completely like a homeless dude. But this time, he looked a bit mad, I looked away in fear thinking we did something wrong. He pointed to Takeyoshi and spoke in that same unhinged yet soothing voice, only slightly less friendly this time…

"You. You purposely tampered with Monigami's Palace just so you could have your sweet revenge right?" HEX said coldly, we all felt a shiver up our spine as we knew we felt partially responsible for his behavior...

"I'm sorry HEX, I didn't know at the time, I was just so focused on beating the socks off of Monigami, that-" HEX was quick to interrupt Takeyoshi while the kid was upset. "It's okay. You're only a child anyway, if children like you don't learn from their mistakes, they might end up living a horrible life…" phew! He goes back to his regular self like it's nothing, that's a relief that we all felt.

"I assume you helped Monigami fix the Palace by using the Treasure?" "Yeah HEX! And get this, the treasure is a two thousand yen bill!" Takeyoshi informed us. I used what I knew about the economy and realized there MIGHT be no such thing as a two thousand yen bill: "But isn't that kinda illegal?"

"Indeed Hero. But every Treasure is based on how they see it, not what they actually are. Kamoshida had a crown, which came from his medal at the Olympics. Surely, there is more depth to the Treasure than just an illegal piece of paper. There's only one way to find out…" HEX says in his cryptic language that I can barely understand on my own.

"Really? How?" I ask. HEX smiled and told us with a hint of confidence in his usual Stoic tone: "You already established the route, haven't you? Remember the sign that places expectations, the very tool used to enable the Treasure, and with expectation comes the perfect opportunity to strike. Buckle up boys, the first ever heist of the secondary Phantom Thieves is about ready to go." Wait, we actually get to do the heist for real now!?

That's awesome! Although I am definitely unsure if I'm ready to do the real thing, I'm proud that we made it this far. I know for a fact that Takeyoshi personally wants to know how we do things the Phantom Thief way, and now we get to learn a bit more on how to do it!

"Oh boy! What happens then?" "It is simple Scalawag, first you'll have to send the calling card, and enter the Palace like you always do, although it will be a little more secure than last time. Next, take the treasure route you've established." HEX told us without changing his expression even once. "Treasure route? Are you implying the treasure is somewhere beyond the safe room from last time?" Akiyo processed. "Indeed. Once you grab the Treasure, the whole place will fall apart, and you'll never see it again."

"Wait… does that mean I have to say goodbye to Doll-Hakaru…?" Takeyoshi gasped when he heard that, we just got him back and now we have to say goodbye to him for good? That's a bit heartbreaking, even for me.

"I'm afraid so. He is only a figment of Monigami's imagination, therefore if a Palace is gone, then it takes everything else with it. No Treasure, no Temple, no Palace." "Damn. I was just getting used to Doll-Harry." Jin'ichi was a bit angered by the fact that he won't be able to see doll-me again, but I had to cheer up the crowd…

"We won't let you down HEX! For the sake of the world, and me, we'll do everything in our power to save Monigami from his own delusions!" I said with confidence as Takeyoshi wipes his tears away: "Yeah!" Jin'ichi instantly cheers up too as he clearly has an idea on how to make this team more special…

"Hey Harry, if we need to lay lower than low, I'd suggest changing the name of this fun group." "O-Oh, right! If we go around parading in the Phantom Thief name, we'll be in serious trouble!" I said surprised as we tried to think up a new name for our team that won't attract any attention. It took about 10 seconds for Takeyoshi to happily come up with just the thing we needed: "How about, the Phantom Crusaders!"

"Ahh, that name is much appropriate to our title." Akiyo says while I nod in agreement. That name is perfect, it represents our heroic spirit, and although sometimes we can be a little too aggressive, we always do what we can to save both prey and predator. In the end, we're still thieves robbing from a Palace, but we have good intentions the whole time, even if revenge might be one of those intentions.

"I see, so instead of doing this out of revenge, you only seek to help those who can't save themselves?" HEX smiled again, which felt kinda thankful knowing he was glaring at us a few minutes ago. "Oh trust me, there is still a bit of revenge in there somewhere." Jin'ichi swung his arm around as he said with pride. I then add to that statement: "Just not to the point where we go absolutely crazy, am I right?"

I wink at Takeyoshi, and he quickly winks back as he cheers: "Yeah! My first heist as an official Phantom Crusader, I won't let you guys worry about me again. If we can change Monigami's heart, he'll be nicer to people like me! Revenge won't solve my problems, only deciding to do what's right will!"

"You all better be prepared. Takeyoshi has to be the one to send the card, and you have only one chance to swipe the Treasure before it disappears. It's best if you do it in the morning, when he's still busy eating breakfast." We were all really excited for the heist to start, that is until we heard we were doing this in the morning. That's when the others remembered they had plans for the morning...

"Wait… I forgot! My mom always makes me some special breakfast every Sunday!" Takeyoshi said, wow, what a nice mom. "I have church every Sunday where I mentally prepare myself for whatever comes my way." Oh yeah, I almost forgot Akiyo was religious. "And doesn't Harry have a sister to look after?" And there it is Jin'ichi, I'm not complaining or anything, but we need a better time than just 7:00 AM!

"Okay… maybe we should wait until lunch to do the heist…" I said while pressing my fingers together. "Yeah, after my super breakfast I'll deliver the card. I always eat lunch at about 1:00 PM or something anyway." Takeyoshi agreed. "Then it's settled. Takeyoshi gives the card to Monigami after his breakfast, we'll meet up together at 11:50, and strike at 12:00." Akiyo said calmly. "High noon. My favorite time to attack." Jin'ichi smirks and agrees as we now know what time we'll perform the heist, but just to make sure nobody feels left out...

"Make sure you tell Liger about this or else he'll be confused too." "Don't worry Harry, everything's going to be fine. And don't just take my word for it, everyone is helping each other get stronger, and at this rate we'll be able to pull it off." Jin'ichi says with his usual confident attitude, I smile back at them as Takeyoshi smiles again: "I'm just glad I got to share my new experiences with my new friends. Without any of your help, I couldn't have beaten that bull."

"Takeyoshi, you precious boy, I wish you the best of luck on our mission, and please never go psychotic again." Akiyo ensures while keeping a smiling face. Takeyoshi finally realized that we were still, kinda aware of that part and said: "Aw come on guys, you're still not over it? It's no big deal!"

"Normally that's the case, but seeing a kid going nuts like that, it definitely can't be overlooked." Jin'ichi tells Takeyoshi as the kid regains his confidence and reminds us that he knows exactly what to do: "Don't worry about me guys, I know now that too much revenge is a bad thing, and it makes giant bulls with my face on it. From now on, I'll do my best to keep myself under control, so I won't have to go through that again!"

In response to his determination, I smiled, crouched down, put my hand on his shoulder, and said with my encouraging passion: "Takeyoshi Winslow, when you aren't being crazy, you are one of the most reliable kids I've known. With your help, we'll save Monigami!" "I couldn't have done it without any of you. Thanks for giving me a shot." Takeyoshi smiles back as we all feel proud of him for overcoming his anger.

We all hug Takeyoshi as HEX boots us out of the alleyway. We stayed like this for a few seconds, and then we all went home. Jin'ichi and Akiyo seem to have adjusted themselves to the team, Takeyoshi was certainly a surprise that I never saw coming. What started as an innocent kid slowly morphed into a kid who knows of the consequences of brutal violence, and I'm so proud of him.

To my surprise, I found my dad just near the apartment stairs. I looked at the man leaving for work and I saw my dad in a janitor outfit. My dad isn't always the most tidy one, he has a short dark brown beard, light brown eyes that drop dead in a heartbeat, and he's also way taller than I am. People say he used to be a professional baseball player, well he was until his wife died a few months after giving birth to Junko.

He taught us how to defend ourselves from strangers, as well as making sure nobody harms us. He may not always come through in the end, but he is still as tough as a box of nails. Whenever he leaves for his night shift, he expects us to be at home at around 10:00 PM, but I was back around 7:30ish just before he left early.

This means I got lucky this time, he carries advice that would also go to his sister, so that means I can talk to him before he leaves for school. But when you really compare a guy who woke up too early to a lady like her, what's the difference? My mom was smart, beautiful, and a real charmer too. She could get any man she wanted to and even get paid for standing around doing nothing. So what makes him special you ask? Like I said, my sister carries my father's advice and our mother's knowledge, so while she may be the combination of the two, my dad's the guy to know if you want to know some serious street-smarts...

"Dad! You're actually leaving early this time!" I waved at my dad, he just raised an arm: "Huh? Hey son, nice meeting you. How are your new friends doing?" "They're awesome! Jin'ichi is super cool, Akiyo is a peace lover, and Takeyoshi is just the cutest little child." I couldn't tell him about the liger because I don't think he'll let me stay here if there's a wildcat on the loose.

"Yeah, I heard about the school's bad boy, it must be awful seeing a man in this state." I wasn't able to ask him before now, but this feels like a good time to spring it on him: "Tell me dad, before you go to work, didn't you once think of Kamoshida as a superstar? I'm just asking."

"Nope. I always knew that man was going sour once he won that medal. You see Hakaru, the best way to detect a lie from someone is if you realize that somebody's out of character. For example, if I were told you got into a fight, I wouldn't believe unless the wounds are present. And even then, I would still want the truth out of the victim's mouth, and only the victim's mouth. Anyone other than that is unreliable. They only believe what they want to believe, and what they usually believe can be nonsensical, but if it'll keep their own asses in check…oh look at the time. I gotta go." "Okay. Bye dad."

And then he casually walked to the school as I ran up the metal stairs, carefully not looking down, and sitting down while eating some curry that he prepared for dinner. My dad developed his own little way of sniffing out the liars. He used to be a policeman after our mother died, and Junko wasn't even born until 4 years before I lost my friend. Hearing his advice before a big day like tomorrow sure gives me relief, even if the job will get tough, having to know his signature way of seeing through liars sounds like a pretty good skill to have.

I then saw my sister drop in and to her surprise, she noticed I was early. She completely flipped as she realized that I got home way faster than her. I'm personally feeling a little awkward about all this as my chews got slower and slower…

"Hi sis… what took you so long…?" I said awkwardly after swallowing the meal in my mouth as Junko expressed her frustration upon me being fashionably early. She stomped her foot and let loose a childish voice that almost made her sound like a boy: "No fair getting home before me! I was late due to my friend wanting me to watch this new TV show!" "Um, what's it about?" Junko suddenly became happy again, as if she was waiting for me to ask that, she does this all the time.

"It's called 'Circus Fantasy'! It's a show about a group that can perform any kind of circus act, any style of circus, anytime! In the first episode, they wowed the crowd by doing a full original circus act!" A suggestion-fueled circus, I can't wait to see that, but I have something more serious to address…

"Sounds exciting! But can I ask you something?" "No, they don't have boobies yet." Hey! That is very immature of you young lady! Out of all the things she would say, this definitely caught me off guard! I nearly spat out my food when I heard that: "W-What!? T-That's not the question! I've been meaning to tell you about Monigami! What did you think of him?" And then I just reminded her of yesterday...

"Oh, that? I think he's a jerk, he only cares about money, bullying... and money. He once called me a snake because I was always outsmarting him, but he still wouldn't take the fall. But did you see the way Takeyoshi saved me from him? He was stupendous! And you taught him everything he knows? That makes me think of you like a pro superhero passing his techniques down to the young!" I was hoping I didn't remind her of yesterday, but I guess with an optimistic attitude like that, it can't be helped... "Uh yeah. That was back then, are you sure you'll be alright during our surprise summer road trip?" I asked her as I stuffed more curry into my mouth.

"I'll be just fine, big brother. It's only a month or two away anyway, but he could do it when we least expected it. I'm just so excited for our trip! Let's hope we don't bump into boobies!" Again!? Seriously, stop bringing up boobies, you're trying to make me blush myself to death! "Wah!? S-Shut up!" I shouted!

I finish my curry as fast as I can and I quickly go to the bathroom to hide from her. I was breathing deeply with my back against one of the walls. You see, I have a serious problem with anything remotely related to sexy stuff. I accidentally went to a 'private club' once, I was never the same man after that. Now whenever I see something remotely sexy, I panic like crazy! Good thing Monigami treats even the woman like he does to the men, because I don't even want to know what kind of shit he's been put through to not like women like men do.

Eventually I calmed down enough to watch the new show she wanted me to watch, she recorded it at home in case she wanted to see it again. It was actually pretty entertaining, it had clowns, horses, everything an old circus would have. And what circus would there be without a ringmaster? A chubby one at that, he was wearing the black clothing of a ringmaster in his thrilling circus of wonders. His smile reminded me of the happy shows I used to watch as a kid.

"Welcome to the Circus of New-ity! Where you wonderful folks at home can tell us what kind of circus we should do next! Just send your letters to this address, or e-mail to this one, and we'll do any kind of circus you please!" He says with wonder and with a grand tone in his voice.

Words flashed on the screen as Junko was just finishing her letter. A circus that could do anything huh? That sounds like fun, but how am I supposed to get to the circus like this? I have to remain focused on the mission at hand, first we'll deal with Monigami, and then we'll- hey! Where's Junko? Oh, there she is, she just finished sending the fan letter.

"I'm telling the ringmaster to do a circus that only has Acrabella the Magnificent!" "Huh?" "I know how much you like her…" Oh... that's right, I didn't start staring at the screen until midway through when they introduced a tall girl who never stopped smiling as she carefully got the tiger over the hoop!

"Oh… you noticed…? When's the next episode?" "Next week!" "I was hoping you didn't say that…" I said knowing that we just might see an Acrabella themed circus...

And so after replaying our favorite moments of the show, like the trapeze and the elephants, we went to bed on a high diving note. Junko was fast asleep, while I simply tried my best to stay awake before succumbing to darkness. Truth to be told, I was scared to death of sleeping because I keep worrying that I'll get another dream about Igor and those two wardens. I don't want to wake up looking all black and white again! But strangely, they haven't been visiting me in quite a while since I denied my 'rehabilitation', what's up with that?

Well, I might as well get my sleep for tomorrow. The big heist is coming up, and now that me and my team are at our best, we'll be more ready than ever to steal Monigami's heart! So this is what a Phantom Thief is like: student by day, hero at mid-day, and regular human by night. This is kinda like a superhero, and the name and secret lair are just proof that I really am becoming a better hero than I thought! I'm helping not just myself or the Palace Rulers, I'm also helping my new friends 24/7, helping them become the people they are today!

When I wake up tomorrow, by the sound of my dad snoring, I'll be readier than ever to defeat Shadow Monigami! Still, I couldn't believe I would get this far. I learned how to rebel at the pool and when not to rebel at the dinner table, I was being triggered into being braver more often than usual, and my sister and I are getting along better even better than before.

I think it's safe it's say, I love being a hero, and I hope this helpful feeling in my heart never goes away… or at least it doesn't go away while I'm doing exams, I have plenty of stuff to do on my own y'know, and I've got a feeling that balancing both daily and phantom life will be beneficial for both sides! If being a human being is what it takes to be better at my job, I'll happily go to sleep to something like that!