The day before the Phantom Thieves are set to infiltrate the Palace they're working on, Akira pulls Hanako aside.

"We're infiltrating the Palace tomorrow," he says. "There are some things you need to know first."

She's not quite sure she understands Palaces all that much without seeing one, but she declined to go see the one they're working on. That's their territory – the Phantom Thieves of Hearts, who steal the distorted desires of corrupted adults. It's not Hanako's territory, who doesn't remember anything and is more comfortable in a less personalized setting like Mementos.

Boss nods his approval at Akira's request, so she takes her apron off and follows the boy up to his attic bedroom. It's dusty in the way that attics tend to be, but otherwise clean – if a bit cluttered with knick-knacks. She likes the cluttered look, honestly. It's as if he has taken what he's been given and made it into a home. The ability to adapt is admirable and familiar in an odd sort of way.

He sits on his bed and sort of gestures to next to him, so she sits on the bed too. He looks. . . nervous. Nervous people do not generally tend to have good news, so she's not sure she's looking forward to what he has to say. It has to be important, because he interrupted her shift to tell her it, but it probably isn't good.

"Akechi is going to betray us," he blurts.

Which – okay, she'd been meaning to get to the bottom of why they're all so shady about Akechi, but it's only been a couple weeks since she noticed it, so she hadn't done much investigating quite yet. Not to mention, he's the only Phantom Thief that has yet to make any time to talk to her – she'd chalked it up to being busy with detective duties, but not being able to interact with him frequently made it a bit hard to see what made the others so uneasy. To get told outright is a pleasant surprise, but betrayal is. . .

He'd seemed perfectly pleasant during their admittedly brief interactions – though they'd never talked one on one, he had been polite during Phantom Thief meetings. Pleasant demeanor, soft voice, dressed in a light brown suit, longer mousey-brown hair, betrayal – why does this seem so familiar?

"Is he in a cult?" she blurts without thinking, and then promptly snaps her mouth shut. 'Is he in a cult?' what kind of question is that? How was that at all relevant to what she was thinking about before – is that why it's so familiar? Did someone like Akechi betray her because of a cult? What sort of life do you have to live – to trust and be betrayed by a cultist?

Akira looks rightfully taken aback by her question. "Not that I know of? That's not what I was going to say."

"Yeah, I'm not sure why I said it either. Please continue."

"Okay," he takes a deep breath. "We're not sure who he's working for, but he intends to turn the Phantom Thieves in."

Can you turn in people who work in a world that doesn't technically exist to the general public? Really, there's no proof that the Metaverse exists outside of the Metaverse app, which is innocuous in and of itself. It'd take a lot to convince a jury of such a world, and even more to actually catch Akira and the others in the act.

"The Metaverse app can take in anyone nearby. He can lead them in – tomorrow, when he wants us to steal the Treasure. And, being the leader, I'll be the one they target –" he breaks off for a moment, seemingly unsure of how to continue. "I'll be the one taken in. At that point, he'll be free to – stage my suicide."

Holy shit.

(Hanako feels she has earned a swear over this, though generally she tries to avoid it.)

"Tell me you have a plan?" she asks instead of the million other questions buzzing through her head. Like, for example. 'if you already knew this why have you been letting him hang around' and 'is he a known murderer or will this be a first time thing for him' and 'are you sure this isn't a cult thing'.

"We do. That's why I'm telling you. Part of it – involves letting him think he succeeded. My death as the leader of the Phantom Thieves. . . it would be broadcasted all over Japan, so. . ." he trails off.

Idly she notes that Akira and Joker have vaguely different personalities. They both joke around a lot, but Akira is generally less confident in real life than he is when he's wearing the mask. This might be on purpose – in real life, he just reads as a nervous boy with glances. You would never be able to tell he's the leader of the Phantom Thieves. It's sort of like a Superman effect. "But you won't actually die?"

"Well, the plan is not to, yes," he says with relatively little confidence, which is definitely not worrying in the slightest. "Uh, but there are variables. And – I just. If I do die, you didn't know me. It won't really work for the others, but we just met you a month ago. Akechi knows you're not a Phantom Thief. If anyone comes by asking, you're a friend of Haru's and she introduced you to Boss and – I'm just the delinquent he's taking care of." He says all this in a rush. It's the most she's ever heard him say without being interrupted.

Akechi might know she's not a Phantom Thief, but he also knows she's been there for a few meetings. She frowns. "But –"

"This is important. I don't want your life to be ruined when you don't even remember who you are. Especially since you don't really know me."

Hanako is strongly reminded of someone else. Someone –

"Promise me that you won't sacrifice yourself."

"Hamuko –"

"Promise. If this ends the way we think it will, you will let me be the one to do it."

"I –"

"Minato."

". . . I promise."

A nostalgic feeling washes over her.

Hamuko. Hamuko. Hamuko.

Akira's saying something, most likely telling her the ins and outs of the plan, but she's long stopped listening. "Hanako?" he says when she doesn't respond for a while.

"Hamuko."

"Huh?"

"My name is Hamuko."

"You just remembered?"

She nods and pulls out her memory journal. She doesn't need to write this down now that she remembers, but it feels like she should document it anyway. "Arisato Hamuko." It sounds right – it sounds perfect. Hamuko is just close enough to Hanako that she can see why that was good enough for a while. "Sometimes I hear – past conversations? That's how I knew about Personas and Shadows and my Evoker."

At some point she will need to think about the Arisato Fund – whether it is connected to her, and the implications of it if it is. She'll leave that errant thought for later, though, perhaps when she knows more about herself.

"And you just now heard a conversation?" Akira asks, looking thoughtful.

"With someone named Minato. It was similar to the one we were having. I think that's what triggered it."

She flips to the first page of her memory journal and scans it. Kirijo-senpai is Kirijo Mitsuru. Empress. Akihiko-senpai is Sanada Akihiko – she knew she knew him, why he was so cryptic about it instead of outright helping her is beyond her. Star. Ken-kun has to be Amada Ken. Justice. And, of course, Koromaru. Those make sense. She's still missing many, but that's not why she's looking.

Min. . . that has to be Minato. She writes 'Minato' after it, leaving spot to fill in his family name later on. She can't grasp an arcana for him, but that much doesn't really seem to matter when recovering her memories. She's not even sure why everyone has an arcana.

Hamuko turns the page and stares down at it. This is the blue door page. 'Blue door – silver hair, yellow eyes, blue clothes. In trouble? AKIRA.'

Right, Akira.

She looks back up at him, realizing he's been sitting patiently and watching as she filled in the blanks. And, most likely reading over her shoulder, so there's no reason to continue ignoring his connection to the blue door. "Can I ask you something?" He nods his assent, so she turns the journal to give him a clearer view. "What's up with the blue door?"

It's clearly a question he expected from her at some point. She knows he saw her staring at it back when they first found her in Mementos. It's been a silent game of who will crack first since then. "The Velvet Room. It's where I go to fuse Personas. I guess that's why you can see it too."

"Welcome to the Velvet Room."

"I've been in there before," she mutters more for herself than for Akira.

This catches him off guard. "You have? I just assumed – I guess I just thought it put you on edge because you didn't know what it was. Not to mention Caroline hanging out in front of it. She can be kinda creepy."

She can't argue that the little girl isn't creepy. "It just feels wrong. Different. It's. . . hard to describe."

And it is hard to describe. Blue is comfortable, warm, safe. The blue door is completely the opposite. Even being near it gives her the creeps, like if she gets any closer something will go terribly, terribly wrong. Some part of her says that she should not feel like that, that the Velvet Room was once a place of safety and friendship. A small island of peace amongst the chaos of Shadows and Personas.

A phone starts ringing. Hamuko reaches for hers, only to realize halfway through the motion that it doesn't sound like her new ringtone. Akira shakes his head at her glance and confirms it's not his, either. They look at each other in befuddlement for a moment before she remembers that she charges and carries around her old phone with her - just in case - and digs it out. She briefly pauses to consider that, last she checked, the phone didn't work. She answers nonetheless. "Hello?"

"Arisato-san?" The voice is calm, professional, and slightly crackling from what is presumably a bad connection. It's a man's voice. She vaguely recognizes it, but the name and face escape her.

"Yes, that's me," she says. If he knows her name then he has to know something about her, and that's pretty much the only thing keeping her from hanging up. That, and the fact that the call is on her old phone. She pulls her phone away from her ear to check the caller ID – Theo. That's not a name in her contacts, she's sure of it. She's been staring at that contact list for a month now. Why did caller ID work, then?

"Oh, good. There's no time to explain. Please listen very carefully. The Velvet Room has been compromised. You must go to the Depths of Mementos –" his voice crackles out for a second – "the game has been rigged, and you are in danger. Please –" the voice cuts out. She checks the phone screen to see that the call has ended.

"The Velvet Room has been compromised. . ." she echoes softly.

This catches Akira's attention, as it should. "So you were actually sensing something wrong with it? I just thought it might be something to do with your memories."

She nods and opens her phone to message the other Phantom Thieves with the update.

Saturday

11/19

5:39pm

Savior changed the group name to operation help Hamuko-chan.

Savior : I have some updates.

Savior : My name is Arisato Hamuko.

Savior : There's a reason I need to get to the depths, but I'm still not sure what exactly it is. I'll leave Akira to explain what we do know.

Queen : Well, it's good that you remembered your name.

Queen : I think the depths conversations should wait until after the Palace infiltration if you don't mind, Arisato-san.

Panther : no way, she gains a last name and suddenly ur all professional?

Queen : She hasn't given us permission to use her first name.

Savior : Haha, I don't mind! Hamuko is really close to Hanako anyways.

Hamuko closes the chat and looks back up at Akira, who is lost in thought. "I hope everything goes well tomorrow," she says with concern. "Good luck." He nods absently and she gets up to go back to Haru's place. Her shift ended while they were talking.

The train ride is eventless, and soon she is plopping her stuff down in the large room she currently calls home. She has a few hours until she absolutely needs to go to bed, but nothing really to do. After contemplating for a little bit, she showers and changes into her pajamas. Haru gave her access to a few streaming services, right? She pulls out her phone and lays in her bed.

Sleeping Beauty or Princess and the Frog?

Sleeping Beauty will put her to sleep. It's not nearly late enough for that yet. Princess and the Frog it is. She clicks on it decisively and settles in for the movie. And the next one. And the next one. Before she knows it it's nearly midnight and she should really probably go to bed. She knows she will not rest peacefully tonight, not after what Akira told her earlier, but she puts her phone away anyway. Hypothetically, she could stay up a little longer. She doesn't have work tomorrow.

Tick, tock.

Tick, tock.

Tick, tock.

When did the clock get so loud? She has half a mind to take it down and throw it out the window, and she feels she understands The Tell-Tale Heart all the more. She has not committed murder, no, but the constant steady rhythm of the clock is going to drive her insane.

When did she read The Tell-Tale Heart?

Why does she remember innocuous things but not big things like – whether or not she has parents? A family?

Tick, tock.

She glances at the clock just as it turns midnight, and for a moment she panics. Over what, she doesn't know. For a moment – but only for a moment – everything seems to take on a green hue, then returns to normal. Was that a figment of her imagination, or. . .? No, it must've been.

But then –

What made her so panicked over midnight?

(It happened last month, too, didn't it? The night she woke up?)

. . . Perhaps it is better left ignored. She'll give herself a headache if she thinks about it too hard. She burrows into the comfy bed and forces her eyes shut. After a while, her breathing evens and she falls asleep. For once, her dream is not a collage of half-finished memories. Instead, she dreams, and remembers.

A blue-haired boy – Minato, her brain supplies – sits next to her on a train. He's dozing off against the window as music plays through his headphones. It's loud enough for her to hear but muffled enough that she won't be able to tell what song he's listening to without some amount of concentration.

"Iwatodai," an overhead voice says. "Now arriving at Iwatodai."

"Min," says her own voice. "This is our stop." He doesn't acknowledge her, so she reaches over and plucks his headphones off. "Come on, loser, it's already late."

He grumbles but grabs his stuff and follows her off the train. He doesn't bother to pause his music or put his headphones back on, providing a relieving amount of noise for the walk. She'd wear her own headphones, of course, but her MP3 died on the way there. She's never been the greatest at keeping it charged.

They walk in comfortable silence with Minato's music keeping them company. Hamuko pulls out her phone to check the time. 11:59 pm. "We're not going to make it," she mutters. Minato gives a noncommittal shrug, which is what she expected. He's never been too bothered about the midnight phenomenon. To be honest, she's more worried about their late arrival. She's not even sure anyone will be awake to greet them.

She double checks the slip of paper she has for directions to make sure they're going the correct way –

The world takes on a green hue. Minato's music cuts out, and she looks back to find him staring down at his MP3 in disappointment. "I always hope it'll keep working," he says without looking up. The moon behind him is larger than life, bathed in the same green glow that surrounds them.

Hamuko sighs and keeps walking, hoping that it won't take long to get to the dorm. After a moment she hears Minato fall in place behind her. Her feet splash in a puddle. She grimaces. They've never figured out what the puddles are, but she knows it hasn't rained recently in Iwatodai. They pass coffins, coffins, coffins. Neither of them pauses. This is their normal.

After a while they arrive at the Iwatodai dorm, a co-ed dorm that will be housing them due to their whole. . . situation. She hesitates outside of the door – if there's someone in there waiting for them, it'll be weird if they just sort of appear when the midnight phenomenon ends – but Minato goes in without a care in the world. She sighs and follows him in. Might as well.

All the lights are on, but no one is around. How are all the lights on? Electricity stops working during the hour following midnight. "Hello?" she calls tentatively, knowing that she will not receive a response.

"You're late," says a little boy from next to her. Where did he come from? She's never seen anyone but Minato during this time. "I've been waiting for a long time for you. Now if you want to proceed, please sign your names there." He gestures to a contract. It opens of its own accord. "It's a contract. Don't worry, all it says is that you'll accept full responsibility for your actions. You know, the usual stuff."

Minato shrugs and signs his name immediately, but Hamuko pauses for a moment. Signing a contract for a creepy kid that shouldn't even be a non-coffin during this time is pretty suspect, after all. But as she looks closer, it really does just say 'I chooseth this fate of mine own free will.' Which, you know, is still pretty weird, but at least it's not anything that weird. Pretty vague, as contracts go. Right below 'Arisato Minato,' she writes her own name. 'Arisato Hamuko.'

The boy takes the contract and closes it. "No one can escape time. It delivers us all to the same end. You can't plug your ears and cover your eyes. . . and so it begins." The boy disappears and the lights go out. Everything is back to being bathed in the green glow.

"Who's there?" calls a voice from the stairway. Yet another person aware during this time? A girl about their age stands in the shadows. Her hand shakily reaches for a gun that's strapped by her skirt.

"Takeba, wait!" says another, more mature voice. That adds to the tally of people that are currently not coffins – which, in Hamuko's experience, has never gone above two. A redhead appears in their field of view. She has a similar gun strapped to her leg. Just as she calls out, the green glow disappears. Minato's music starts up again.

The lights come back on, bright and blinding, and the first girl is no longer in shadow. She looks at them shocked, then sheepish. "I didn't think you'd arrive so late," says the redhead. "My name is Kirijo Mitsuru. I'm one of the students who live in this dorm."

"Who're they?" asks the first girl – Takeba? – in a soft voice.

"They're transfer students. It was a last-minute decision to assign them here, due to their unique situation. They will likely eventually be moved to the gendered dorms," Kirijo explains.

Takeba frowns at them consideringly. Looking for what, Hamuko doesn't know, but she assumes it has something to do with the midnight phenomenon. "Is it okay for them to be here?"

"I guess we'll see." Kirijo turns back to them. "This is Takeba Yukari. She'll be a second year this spring, just like you two."

Hamuko bows quickly. "Nice to meet you! My name is Arisato Hamuko, and this is my brother Arisato Minato. . . he doesn't talk much. You can just call us by our first names if it makes it easier."

"Nice to meet you too," Takeba says, eyes flitting between the twins. That's to be expected. No one ever believes they're related, much less twins.

"You two should get some rest," Kirijo says into the awkward air. "Takeba, show her to her room. Arisato Minato, come with me."

Hamuko dutifully follows Takeba up to the third floor, past all of the rooms, and to the last door on the right. Takeba turns toward her nervously. "About earlier. . . you didn't see anything strange, did you?"

She pauses to consider it. Of course she did, but then again she's been experiencing the midnight thing for as long as she can remember. The only strange thing about tonight has been how many people also experienced it. So. . . "No," she shakes her head. "Goodnight, Takeba-san," she says, then promptly enters her room and shuts it in Takeba's face.

She'll apologize for being rude in the morning.

For now, she just wants peace and quiet.