May 21st.

It had been over a day since Yusuke's awakening. The only reason the Phantom Thieves hadn't jumped back into Madarame's Palace for the sake of letting things calm down. They had until the end of his art exhibit before Madarame pressed charges. After the events of the 19th, they needed some time to ensure the Palace wasn't crawling with more security than they needed. Yusuke understood this need for a wait, but he was also anxious to take care of Madarame after learning the truth about the man he once thought of as Father. Just his luck, Ren and the others decided that today was a good day to head back in.

While Yusuke stood at the station, waiting for his train to come, he just so happened upon Hifumi once again. They had been seeing a lot of each other lately. "Oh…Kitagawa-san…hello."

"Hm?" Yusuke was so lost in thought he didn't notice Hifumi approach. This had almost been a daily meeting at this point. "Oh, Togo-san. Nice to see you here. We do use the same line…"

"Mhm." Hifumi nodded. She felt…a bit awkward about this. She wasn't ignorant to the shift in Yusuke's mood. Something about him seemed different than the other day. "I know this is not my place…but…are you all right?"

"Whatever do you mean?" Yusuke blinked, a bit confused. "Do I seem different?"

"Well…" How to begin?" Hifumi's green gaze wandered, unable to look directly at the taller male beside her. "I'm not sure how to explain it but you seem more…resolved than usual?"

Perhaps his expression did change a little bit. After what happened, it only made sense that he may have seemed a little hardened compared to before. "Do I? Well…there is something that I must do for Madarame. I intend to see it through as well."

"Oh…" Hifumi just nodded. While she wasn't going to pretend to understand, she did pick up on that fact that Yusuke's tone changed. Whenever someone asked him about Madarame before, he had always referred to him as 'Sensei'. It wasn't her business to pry and her train was coming up. "Well, good luck…" The professional shogi player then nodded and walked off.

"…That's right…" Yusuke hadn't forgotten his anger. He absolutely had to bring Madarame to justice for the sake of all the dreams he discarded in favor of riches. This anger resolved him to become a member of the Phantom Thieves.

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.

After briefing Yusuke on their knowledge of the Metaverse, the third trip into Madarame's Palace began anew. Once they were inside, Mona hit upon the realization that their newest member was lacking a code name. "Oh right. I just remembered that our new recruit doesn't have a code name."

"It has to be "Kitsune" with that kitsune mask and everything." Panther suggested.

"Oh hell yeah! That really leaves an impression." Skull nodded in agreement.

Yusuke, who had been absent for most of the conversation, turned around curiously. "Are you talking about me?"

"What do you want your name over here to be?" Panther asked.

Yusuke pondered it for a moment before giving a suggestion. "I'd say, 'Da Vinci'."

"Nope." Skull shot that idea down immediately, much to Yusuke's surprise. "Well, you got that mask and everything like Ann said…all right! You're 'Abura-age'!"

"Snrk…" Mona snickered at that suggestion.

"Very well." Yusuke said, casually.

Mona's eyes then widened. "He agreed to it!?"

"It's decided then! Abura-age!" Skull grinned.

And in came Panther to shoot that idea down. "Nu-uh. Not happening." She then turned to Joker, who was silently snickering at the fact Yusuke was really about to go with Abura-age. "Do you have any ideas, Joker?"

Oh so it was his turn? Joker stroked his chin for a moment before coming with an idea. He only had two, and one seemed far more fitting than the other. "Fox."

"Ooooh, keeping it literal, huh?" Skull said.

"What do you think, Fox?" Mona turned to Yusuke, all eyes waiting for his approval.

"It's acceptable." Yusuke nodded. From this point on, in the Metaverse, he would be dubbed Fox.

"It's set then! Let's go!" Skull was itching to get back into the action. They had a lot of ground to cover and only two weeks to do it. Everyone nodded and started to walk off. While that was happening, Mona was explaining that they'd have to tread as a smaller group from now on since they had more than 4 people.

As Joker walked, he was stopped when a voice called out to him. "Inmate."

Turning, Joker saw one of the two Velvet Room attendants standing at the door: Justine. The young girl flipped through her clipboard, opening the door that only Joker could see. "Our Master would like a word with you."

"…Okay." Joker nodded and walked into the Velvet Room. While he was going into a completely different space, to the others it would look like he was staring into space. It wouldn't be the first time, but he'd deal with their questions later.

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The Velvet Room; a place between dream and reality, mind and matter. Even though Ren had come to the Velvet Room for about a month now, he couldn't really understand this place. Supposedly it was different between guests, and in this case, his was a prison. As soon as he stepped into the Velvet Room, gone was his Phantom Thief attire and he was in a cell, clad in prisoner attire, complete with handcuffs and a ball and chain wrapped around his ankle. Walking forward, he placed his hands on the bars of the cell.

In front of him were two girls, both with eye patches over their left and right eye respectively. Caroline and Justice, Ren's 'wardens' in this prison of his heart. But more importantly, there was a long nosed man sitting in a desk in the center of the room. That was the master of the Velvet Room known as Igor. "Welcome back, Inmate! Our Master has words for you, so listen and be respectful!" Caroline said. Of the twins, even though they were both equally harsh on Ren, Caroline was more verbal about it…and physical at times.

"I didn't say anything…" Ren sighed, but was silenced when Caroline's baton slammed against the bars of his cell.

"I said quiet!" Caroline snapped.

Igor simply watched with one leg crossed over the other. "I am aware that I told you this once before, but it seems you have found another who can wield the power of a Persona." His voice was deep; far deeper than his appearance would suggest.

"I just got lucky." Ren responded.

"As I said before, I will continue to give the app to those who will prove useful in your rehabilitation." Igor said. There was that word again; Rehabilitation. Clearly there was some sort of goal in mind for Ren, but he still did not understand what the purpose behind it all was. Still, Ren could feel this strange bond he had with Igor deepening…

"Right…well, if that'll be all…" Ren was about to turn and walk off, but he was halted by Justine.

"Wait, Inmate. You have a Persona that we've requested. Sit." Justine's tone was gentle, but this was more of a demand than a request. So Joker sat.

"By the way, Inmate. Your Personas are super weak." Caroline crossed her arms. It almost felt like she was mocking him. "Not that I'm surprised."

"…Well, it's only been a month." Ren responded. He wasn't really sure what sort of effort they were expecting when he was still new to all this.

"But I guess you deserve at least some praise for finishing your penal labor." Caroline continued. So they weren't going to completely write him off, which was nice to know.

"In order to promote that progress, we would like to offer you the use of a new facility." Justine said, her eye closed and a slight smile on her lips.

Caroline took notice of the rarity on her twin's lips, and of course she had to comment on it. "Hmph. It's rare to see you smile, Justine."

"You are the smiling one Caroline." Justine shot back, pointing out the smile that subconsciously appeared on Caroline's lips. "Did something happen to make you so joyful?"

"M-Me?" Caroline stammered. She could hear a slight snicker from Ren and she immediately turned to him. "Hey, are you laughing at us!?"

"…Maybe." Ren always felt like he was treading on thin ice with these two. If he was too playful too soon, he could regret it.

"Know your place, Inmate!" Caroline shouted. That response was all Ren needed to know that he made the right call.

"As wardens, we simply feel satisfaction in seeing your rehabilitation progress. That is the extent of it." Justine was giving Ren the side eye. "I find it upsetting that you would see such a matter as a source of amusement."

"It's like you forget where you are, Inmate." Caroline added. The response of the Twins only cemented the fact that Ren was wise to give such a lukewarm response. "You got some real guts though. With that attitude you should have no problems making progress!"

"What is this rehabilitation supposed to be anyway?" Ren asked. Surely the Twins would know. They kept throwing that word around so it had to have some weight to it.

"…If you have the will to continue your penal labor, we can grant you further freedom within this prison." Justine hesitated a bit before answering. It felt like she should have known the answer to his question, but it simply wasn't coming to her for some reason. As such she opted to talk past it and continue on. "Think of it as a deal between us the wardens and you the prisoner."

"Not that you have any choice in the matter." Caroline said with a mocking grin. "Hard work is what you're meant to do, Inmate!"

"I guess I've made a deal with these two…" Ren thought to himself. Even though they were a bit harsh to him, it did seem like they were willing to help him out…

.

.

"Joker?" Mona approached Joker, who seemed to be in a daze. "We've already started going."

"Huh?" Joker blinked. His business ended faster than he thought. But just as he surmised, he wasn't 'away' for very long. "Sorry. Let's go." With that said, the infiltration of Museum of Vanity started yet again!

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Joker, Skull, Panther, and Fox led the vanguard through the museum, with Mona giving intel and backup when the time called for it. Fox slipped to a corner, peering behind it as a female shadow walked back and forth. "I see a Shadow…"

Joker appeared next to him, leaning around the corner to get a look at their next victim. Joker smirk, noticing several stands that served as the perfect cover. "On my mark." He told the others, swiftly moving between the stands. Once the Shadow was close enough, Joker pounced! He leapt onto her shoulders, red glove gripping the mask on its face. "Show me your true form!" The mask was pried off and Joker flipped back, the single shadow forming into two foes; Ame-no-Uzume x2!

"Two enemies! But we can take them!" Mona shouted from the backlines.

"Right! Jack Frost!" Joker summoned one of the many Personas in his arsenal, brandishing his power of the Wild Card. "Go down!"

"Hee hoo!" Jack Frost let out a little, signature cry before throwing its hands forward. The weakness of Ame-no-Uzume was psychokinesis, a skill of which this happy little mascot had in its arsenal. A multi-colored blast struck the first Ame, causing her to topple over. That's when Joker walked past Fox, their giving him a high five to Baton Pass over, so Fox could exploit this opening.

"Fox, taking over!" Fox exclaimed, sprinting towards the downed Ame, drawing his katana while Goemon appeared behind him. "Rising Slash!" He yelled, aiming a jumping slice at the downed opponent. Due to the properties of the Baton Pass, this attack was powered up! It was enough to defeat the Ame easily.

"Nice going, Fox!" Panther cheered.

The other Ame no Uzume did not take kindly to her friend being taken out like that, and she wouldn't stand for it either. "That's so rude! Trespassing into Lord Madarame's museum and doing whatever you want!?" The Shadow then raised her hands, dropping down numerous bolts of lightning onto the Phantom Thieves. The Mazio attack did some damage on all four of them, causing the main group to recoil slightly.

"That all ya got!?" Skull grinned. Even though he took the hit, lightning was his element and he resisted it pretty easy. With that said he rushed towards the Shadow, swinging his bat at it! But he missed. "Wah…!"

"Come on, Skull! What are you doing!?" Mona groaned. Anytime Skull messed up he just had to shake his head.

"Carmen!" Panther was next, summoning Carmen by her side to fire off a ball of fire towards their foe.

"Panther, wait…!" Mona was too late. The Agi struck the Ame no Uzume, but instead of doing any damage, it was just drained and healed her.

"What!?" Panther's eyes widened. That was the first time any Shadow managed absorb her attacks.

"Haha!" Ame no Uzume laughed and swiped her fan to the side, creating a powerful gust of wind that was Magaru. The thieves crossed their arms to block the hit, but Skull, who was weak the element was knocked off his feet.

"Shit!" Skull grunted as he collapsed to the ground, stunned from the impact.

"What have we here?" The Shadow hummed while approaching the down Skull, but she was quickly forced to back off when Panther swung her whip.

"Yeah, I wouldn't get any closer if I were you." Panther warned. She made a mistake, but not one they couldn't recover from. "Joker!"

"Go down!" Joker called upon Jack Frost once more, using Psy to knock Ame No Uzume down before she knew what hit her. As soon as she went down, Joker, Fox, and Panther held her at gunpoint.

"Ah…! W-Wait…!" The Shadow pleaded. "Like, I so don't want to die! Can't we talk about this!?"

"…Lend me your power." Joker said.

"What's that Shadow so damn happy about? Oh well, guess we should play along." Mona suggested.

"Well, I can't just give my power to anyone, you know…" Ame No Uzume said, remaining tense, yet oddly comfortable on the floor at the same time. "So, care to explain yourself? I certainly hope you have a good reason for this boorish treatment."

"I'd take a while to explain," Joker responded. That wasn't a lie either.

"Oh ho! Well, perhaps we should talk this over more sometime, yes?" The shadow giggled. "But if that's the case, why don't you stop this futile endeavor, It's meaningless."

"I'll find meaning in it." Joker nodded.

"Well, isn't that nice..? Oh! I just remembered something! I'm not a Shadow! I am a Persona drifting in the sea of souls! My name is Ame no Uzume, and I'll be your new mask from now on!" Just like that, the once Shadow turned into a mask, which Joker took for himself. The power of the Shadow was now a Persona for him to use; such was the power of his Wild Card.

"Man, I'll never get used to that…" Skull said while standing up. "But it's so freakin' cool!"

"Are you all okay?" Mona asked.

"Just fine!" Skull said with a thumbs up. "These guys are a lil' tougher than in Kamoshida's Palace, but it's not something we can't handle."

"Plus, I think Fox is getting used to combat!" Panther said.

"It's odd. I always did imagine having a sword if I had to fight. A katana, though…?" There was Fox, being odd as he examined his own blade. It seemed like he was hoping for something a little different, but this was his image of a rebel to begin with.

"We can talk about our weapons later." Joker said, motioning for the others to follow him. "But we're not done here yet. Let's keep going."

.

.

While traversing the museum, the group happened upon paintings they could actually enter and walk through. But as they did, they discovered that these paintings also held Madarame's inner thoughts about what he believed art to be. When entering the painting of a desert, these thoughts were made clear.

"Alas, this world is a desert filled with laymen who cannot understand true beauty…! The slow drain of my skill is inevitable when I am surrounded by such mediocrity…"

Skull couldn't help but scoff at those words. "So he's gonna blame the world for his declinin' skill? Heh, that bastard never had any skill to begin with!"

The next was a painting of a mountain. "The gods, even in their dormancy, are worshipped constantly. People gather under shrine gates to offer their money, and return home fully satisfied. Art is practically the same! In the end it is all just a matter of imagination!"

"Huh!?" Panther gasped. "Even if that's true, that doesn't give you the right to be deceiving people!"

The next painting was one filled with greenry. "Hard work is not what makes a sapling grow thick with green leaves. Too many young people do not see the true value in youth these days. What fools…Is it truly wrong for an expert such as myself to capitalize on that youth before it wastes away?"

This time it was Mona's turn to scoff. He really couldn't believe this guy. "What the heck? He's basically saying he's jealous of young talent…Look at me! I was turned into a cat but I'm still fighting. Age isn't a valid excuse." He said, still working under the strong assumption that he was a noble human turned cat for…reasons unknown to him.

The longer they continued, the worse it got. "Beauty is merely a mirage. Transforming that into money is what brings about the most happiness. My fine mansion, my lifestyle among the chosen few…those are the only things worth being called true 'art'!"

Everything they heard just made Fox feel worse and worse. It only took a few days out of the 12-13 years he knew Madarame to learn the ugly truth about him. "So running your atelier out of a shabby, run-down shack was merely a ruse after all…How foolish was I to have been blind for so long…"

Panther frowned upon seeing Fox's pain. "Fox…"

"We'll make him pay soon enough." Joker told Fox. They had to keep going no matter what.

.

.

They were getting close to the end. The toughest obstacle yet was a room painted gold with numerous copies of Sayuri around. The distortion concerning that one piece of art was so strong the Thieves had to discern the real from the fakes. Something that even Madarame himself was having trouble with in the real world. But once they passed through that obstacle, they finally arrived at the Main Treasure Hall. The treasure was in sight, but…

"That's a lot of security…" Joker whistled lowly. Between the several guards, the infrared laser grid that surrounded the Treasure on all sides, and Shadow Madarame himself standing in front of it…they were going to have a hard time plucking that out of his hands.

"So, do we have our route set?" Skull asked. "We know where the Treasure is!"

"Hmmm…" Morgana shook his head. "We know where the Treasue is, but I'm not sure we can say we secured the route."

"Huh? Why's that?" Skull asked.

"You must be talking about the security." Fox said.

"Yup." Morgana didn't see any need to explain in further detail.

"So we'll need to find a way to steal it, too…" Panther sighed. They were so close… "This is tougher than it was with Kamoshida."

"We just have to make one final push," Mona said confidently. They were so close! "Let's check this floor."

"Yeah." Joker nodded and off they searched. Their options were limited, but there just so happened to be another security room nearby that was unlocked. And to their forutune, the working computer didn't need a password either.

"Nice!" Skull grinned. "We don't need a password, so…whaddya wanna do?"

"Hm…" Joker checked the options. Cutting all power, opening shutters, and turning off the lasers were the only options. He tried the most sensible one first and attempted to shut off the lasers. But when he did…

"ERROR! ONLY LORD MADARAME HAS EXECUTIVE ACCESS TO THIS FEATURE."

"So that's a no." Joker lifted a brow.

"Okay…what else is there?" Panther leaned forward.

"Trying the shutters…" Joker mumbled. It looked like that one worked, surprisingly! So that was a place to explore later. "And lastly…main power…" Surprisingly, the entire museum went dark! "…You'd think such a command would be exlusive to Madarame too, but I'm not complaining."

"W-What is the meaning of this?!" Shadow Madarame panicked.

"D-Don't worry! The backup generators will be coming online!" A security guard said. A few seconds passed and power was restored.

"…What a nasty surprise…" Shadow Madarame mumbled. "Hm…could this also be…? Hey, someone!"

"The lasers were still active…and that only lasted for a few seconds…" Mona surmised.

"H-Hey, wait!" Panther realized a security guard was coming their way. "Isn't there someone coming this way!?"

"…She's right, we should make ourselves scarce." Joker quickly led the way out of the security room. They were able to slip past the incoming guard who came their way. They only managed to open the shutters, so they went to explore the area up above. There wasn't much…aside from a direct path above the Treasure, which they had to use Joker's grappling hook to reach. But they learned something very important about the laser grid above the treasure…

"Look..." Panther whispered so they couldn't be heard from below. "There are no lasers on top of it!"

"This is quite a large hole in their security…but what do we do? Do we jump down to retrieve it?" Fox made a good point. There was an opening to exploit, but they needed a way to do so.

"…That wouldn't work. But look up." Mona pointed to the large hook above them.

"A hook with a chain…" Fox mumbled.

"I remember seeing the control panel nearby." Joker said, returning to the room just before the scaffolding. Joker pulled the lever and the hook started to descend.

"Stop, stoooop!" Panther warned. "They'll see you if you go lower!" She made a good point. All the needed to do was confirm that the hook would descend as low as they needed.

"This could be useful…" The pieces were all coming together in Mona's head.

"Do you plan on descending on the hook?" Fox questioned. "Would they not spot you the moment you were lowered down?"

"No…not necessarily…" Mona grinned.

"If we cut the power first, they'll never see it coming." Joker said.

"Exactly!" Mona's grin widened as Joker caught on to his plan. "That's our Joker!"

"Oh right…we were able to shut the power down in the other room." Panther realized.

"But that was only for a few seconds." Fox said. "That is not enough time to dash all the way over here."

"Which is why we'll have someone else cut the power." Mona closed his eyes. This plan was coming together. "And one person will lower the crane so I can grab the Treasure!"

"Are you for real?" Skull was in disbelief. This seemed risky. "This is kinda risky…"

"Sometimes the riskier plans have the best payoff." Mona said confidently. "So it's settled! We have our infiltration route! All we have to do now is send the Calling Card. We'll leave that up to you, Joker!"

"Got it." Joker nodded, sliding his hands into his pockets.

"Are you kidding me…?" Skull was not 100% sold on this. But it was their best course of action.

"…Madarame…" Fox glanced back at the Main Treasure Hall, a scowl on his lips. The moment of truth was about to arrive. "We will change this twisted heart of yours…so that you may never steal another person's future ever again…"