Oh crap. Ann let it slip that she was aware of the Nav in front of Hifumi. But what was she supposed to do!? How was she supposed to know Hifumi had it on her phone? She could've gotten away with it if she didn't react so strongly. Now she was digging her own grave and had to find a way out of it. "That's…uh…"
"Do you know what it is…?" Hifumi tilted her head curiously, the red string in her hair shifting about as she moved. It seemed like Ann knew what it was. "It just appeared on my phone randomly today. I swear I deleted it, but…"
"That's…a strange app!" Ann rubbed the back of her head. She was so nervous she shifted into her acting persona. One Hifumi would be slightly familiar with since it was the one she used on her mom when they first met. "I have nooooo idea what it is…or where it came from…" That was a half-truth mixed in with a horrible lie. "Weird that it would be on your phone….maybe you should restart it?"
"Hm…" Hifumi stared at her phone. "So you don't know where it came from…"
"I don't…!" Ann could answer that one seriously. But it did kind of bother her that Hifumi only followed up on that part of her statement. But Ann wasn't in a position to say anything more. If Hifumi had the Nav, it meant she could enter the Metaverse. Even more so, she could have a Persona, based on the trend so far but…it didn't feel right for her to expose Hifumi to any of that. That wasn't her decision to make. "But I wouldn't try using it…you know?"
"I guess you have a point…" Hifumi stared at the Nav a bit longer before sliding her phone back into her pocket. "But are you sure you don't know what it is…?" Hifumi wasn't exactly willing to let that go just yet. Ann's case wasn't exactly convincing…but she also didn't want to doubt her new and only friend.
Ann was in a similar boat. She didn't want to lie to her new friend but this situation wasn't exactly easy. "Well…that's…"
"There you are. I've been looking for you everywhere." Mitsuyo was walking into the café, hands on her hips as she stared at Hifumi and then glared at Ann. "Oh…hanging out with this one again, are you?"
"She's my friend…" Hifumi averted her gaze.
"Hello ma'am…!" Ann gave Mitsuyo a smile despite the intimidating aura she was receiving. "I think we got off on the wrong foot the other day! My name is Ann Takamaki and I…!"
"I know who you are." Mitsuyo stared at Ann, causing the blonde to sweat nervously. "I don't know what your motives are for 'befriending' my daughter, but you should know that I am watching you. If your influence over my daughter turns out to be bad, I'll make sure you never see her again."
"Mother…!" Hifumi stared at her mom. She understood that her mother was trying to look out for her, but that felt like she was taking it a bit too far.
"I'm not trying to get her in trouble." Ann shook her head.
"Hmph. Come on, Hifumi. It's time we head home. You have a match tomorrow to prepare for." Mitsuyo wasn't taking no for an answer and started to leave. Hifumi sighed and nodded, turning to Ann to mouth 'I'm sorry', before leaving with her mother.
Ann just sat there for a second before leaning back in her seat, the tension escaping her body in a heavy sigh. "Geez…"
.
.
June 12th.
Makoto was walking around a university, scoping it out in case it was something she wanted to visit later in the future. As she wandered around, Akechi happened to spot her and vaguely recognized her. The detective approached her from behind but kept a casual distance. "You're Sae-san's younger sister, correct? May I talk to you for a moment?"
Makoto turned curiously. "Is it about the Phantom Thieves, Akechi-kun?"
"You're quite perceptive." Akechi gave an amused smile. "I just wanted to know if there were any similarities between the Kamoshida and Madarame cases?" It was best to ask her since the first incident did occur at her very own school. "There have been victims after all. The Phantom Thieves need to be pursued."
"So you criticize the Phantom Thieves but don't doubt they exist?" Makoto questioned.
"Oh, so you saw that show?" Akechi flashed an innocent smile. "Common sense may sometimes get in the way when pursuing the truth. Many details make sense if I think on the premise that they do exist."
"Is this because my sister told you to do so?" Makoto asked.
To that, Akechi shook his head. "It was just a coincidence."
"…Why do I get the feeling you're enjoying this?" Makoto lifted a brow curiously. Akechi's tone made it seem like part of this felt like a game to him.
"You may be right." Akechi said with a slight smile, which actually caught Makoto off guard. She wasn't expecting him to outright admit it like that. "Phantom thieves that use calling cards and succeed in their crimes? As a charismatic detective, it would be hard not to see them as my rivals."
"You have such high self-esteem…" Makoto replied while narrowing her eyes a bit. "So the Phantom Thieves are evil and you are just?"
"Compared to people who manipulate others' hearts as they see fit, I believe I'm on the side of justice." Akechi replied seriously. "Besides, I'm only using my natural born talents to serve the world. Don't you think the same about yourself?"
Makoto didn't have an answer to that. Her gaze went towards the ground. "I…"
How disappointing. "Oh…so you're just the good girl type of pushover." Akechi was expecting a bit more from Sae's younger sister, but perhaps he was wrong to do so. He then checked his phone, realizing he was about to run late. "It's starting soon. Give Sae-san my regards." With a pleasant smile, Akechi walked off as if he just didn't insult her.
"…" Makoto watched Akechi leave, letting out a quiet sigh. Yet another person who was getting on her case and she hadn't even done anything. "Why does everyone always get on my case…"
.
.
Ren rolled out of bed, yawning and stretching as he did so. Morgana was already awake and it was about time Ren got up too. "So you're finally awake…" He told the sleepy Ren.
"Man…I'm hungry." Ren said while standing up.
Seriously? Morgana just sighed. "That's really the first thing you say to me? You guys sure do eat a lot…"
Ren glanced around his room, noticing the lack of Yusuke around. "Hey, where's Yusuke?"
"I haven't seen him. Maybe he's downstairs?"
Shrugging, Ren decided to check. He wandered downstairs where he saw Sojiro as usual. Sojiro just shook his head as Ren approached. "You're finally awake. You know it's past noon."
"Wow…" Seems like Ren wasn't aware of how long he slept.
"That kid decided to go back to his dorm." Sojiro explained. "He said it would be better for him if he did that. But he decided to leave that painting here as thanks for us taking care of him." He gestured to the picture of Sayuri that hung on the wall near the doorway. "It's a really good painting; the mother's expression is beautiful, too. It's rare to see a kid acting so grateful these days…the regular's will probably freak when they see it." The thought of that amused him.
"Sayuri…so he decided to leave it here…" Ren mumbled to himself. It was probably for the best and although it was small, it certainly did bring a hint of color to the café.
"Still…I feel like I've seen it before. It's a bit different from how I remember though…" Sojiro couldn't put his finger on it. Oh well. "Hey, if you're up, why don' you get dressed? I opened the shop hours ago, so get the cat outta here if you're going out."
"Yeah." Ren nodded and went back upstairs to change. They had plans today after all.
.
.
First things first! Ren made a trip to the clinic that was just around the corner. The doctor inside was Tae Takemi, known as The Plague in the medical world. Ren didn't know the full details behind such a nickname and Takemi took it in stride too. But these two had a bit of a deal going on: so long as Ren helped Takemi with medical examinations, she'd provide him with medicine, which was useful when traversing the Metaverse. The only downside was that Takemi's mixtures were…kind of a lot. It was a pretty shady deal honestly, but it did help both the Phantom Thieves and Takemi, so it worked out. "Hey, Doc."
Takemi looked up from her desk, flashing a small smile as she saw Ren. "Well, if it isn't my little guinea pig. What can I help you with today?"
"Can I get some medicine?" Ren asked.
"You're very lucky." Takemi said while standing up. "I'm still working over the results of the last examination…so you don't have to deal with one today." There was a coy smile on her lips, enjoying Ren's somewhat worried expression as she spoke. "Step into the exam room, please."
.
.
Today's agenda was finally tackling some Mementos requests. Ren sent a group text out earlier for everyone to meet at their usual hideout. Ann was the last one to arrive and her expression was a bit sour, as she was still mulling over what she knew about Hifumi last night. Ryuji didn't notice it yet and just grinned now that everyone was here. "Alright, we're all here! So what's the plan?!"
"Well, based on what Mishima has given us…" Ren checked his phone but Morgana was the one who did the briefing.
"The first target's name is Nozomi Odo. He's the manager of a convenience store and has been exploiting his employees.…" As Morgana explained, Ann wrinkled her nose. It sounded like they had suitable targets to go after. But she had to get something off her chest before they got started. "Hey, guys…before we go in, I have something I need to tell you all."
'What is it, Ann?" Yusuke turned to her curiously.
"So…after I left you guys last night, I went to talk to Hifumi. And well…it turns out that she has the Nav too." Ann explained.
"What!?" Ryuji's eyes widened. "Are you for real!? Hey, maybe that means she can join u-"
"Don't be an idiot, Ryuji!" Morgana shook his head. "Can't you see that Lady Ann is clearly stressed about this?"
"Did she know anything about it?" Ren asked the real question.
To that, Ann shook her head. "Not exactly. I…almost slipped that I knew about it. She had a name in it but didn't know how it got there. But she didn't have anything else…I don't think she'll figure out how it works on her own. But it's not my place to pull her into something she may not want to be a part of."
What a tricky situation. If they explained anything about the Nav to Hifumi that would pretty much expose them as Phantom Thieves… "As improbable as it may seem…there may still be a chance she accidentally makes it work." Yusuke said. "And if something were to happen, that responsibility would fall on us…" Those weren't exactly the words that they wanted to hear, but someone had to say them.
"You're right, Yusuke…" Ann rubbed the back of her head. It really was up to Ann to do something about this properly before Hifumi ended up getting hurt or something. "I'll try talking to her when we both have time." And just to make sure she didn't forget about this, she sent Hifumi a text that read: "Hey, when are you free?"
"The best case scenario is that she ends up being able to join us." Morgana told Ann. "After all, she is a supporter of ours." And he was always looking forward to more members joining them.
"I think it's okay to put a little faith in her." Ren said with a reassuring nod.
"Yeah." Ann said with a slow nod. "I just don't want to put her in a situation that can be avoided, you know?"
"I get it." Ryuji said geninuely. This made Ann look at him curiously. "It was the same way when Ren and I went to go after Kamoshida…then you just kinda popped in anyway. So if you're gonna be hangin' around with that Hifumi girl, don't go getting' your recklessness influencin' her."
What!? Ryuji of all people was talking to her about recklessness!? "And here I thought you were about to say something meaningful! You're such an idiot!" Ann huffed.
"What!?" And of course Ryuji didn't get it. In his eyes he thought he said something good but the fact everyone was staring at him made him think otherwise. "Okay can we just go!?"
"What an idiot…" Morgana shook his head.
"Let's get this over with before he embarrasses himself more…" Ren said while pressing the Nav with his thumb. It was time to head into Mementos.
.
.
Joker, Skull, Fox, Panther, and Mona successfully arrived in Mementos. As soon as they did, Fox looked around curiously. This was his first time actually stepping into the Palace of the people. "So this is Mementos…? The Palace of the masses…where the desires and cognition of many merge into one. What a breathtaking sight!"
"…That's one way to put it." Skull said while scratching his head. He forgot how weird Fox was sometimes.
"Wait…something's showing up." Joker looked at his phone. They had an overall map of Mementos on the nav and they only had two areas. But once they arrived, it began to update, a third area appearing.
"A new depth has been added." The nav reported.
"Another layer…" Panther tilted her head. "This happened after we beat Kamoshida, too."
"How peculiar…" Fox stared at his phone. "I wonder what the reason is for that. Could it be that every time we take down a Palace, Mementos grows in depth?"
"I don't think that's it." Mona shook his head. "But I don't think that's too far off either. I can't remember why Mementos is the way it is. But I can gather that the more we do the deeper we can go."
"Let's make sure to explore as thoroughly as we can." Joker said before leading the way down the stairs.
.
.
Mission #1: Part Time Job-Full Time Hell!
Nozomi Odo was a store manager, exploiting his employees for his own personal gain. This request came from Mishima himself as he knew someone suffering under his oppressive hold. Once the Phantom Thieves arrived, they knew what it was they had to do. "So…that's Odo?" Fox asked. "What an unpleasant smile…"
"That's his customer service smile, yeah?" Mona said. "But behind that he's been exploiting his employees…"
"He might start doin' it to customers too. Who knows?" Skull brought up a good point. If they let this sort of behavior continue.
"Yo." Joker walked towards Shadow Odo. "Are you Nozomi Odo?"
"Why hello! What can I do for you gents and lady of the Phantom Thieves?" Odo said with a faux smile.
"Why are you exploiting your employees!?" Panther cut right to the chase.
"Yeah! Blackmailin' em ain't right!" Skill shouted.
"Exploiting? My store is directly managed by a bigger chain. So as manager I have to be competent and get to do whatever I need to. They're essentially my property and I don't need some strangers telling me how to use my store's money."
"Property!? That's sick!" Panther had a enough of this guy already. "Who do you think you are!?"
"I get it…" Shadow Odo gave an understanding nod. "You pretend to be heroes, but you're really just criminals! I'm gonna kill you all!" And then his Shadow self-transformed, taking the appearance of a young man with a spear. "Prepare to get royally defeated by me!"
"Let's go!" Mona exclaimed. "Zorro!" Mona's Persona appeared on that call as he was the one to lead off the battle. Zorro flew forward, swinging its rapier in a Z formation to create a potent gust of wind that locked Odo down. Garula was strong enough to keep Odo in place, allowing for the others to strike.
"Let's go, Captain!" Skull shouted as Captain Kidd appeared, flying forward to slam into Odo with Assault Dive. "BAM!" The attack was strong, forcing Odo to slide backwards several feet, but he took that hit far better than Skull was intending. "No way!?"
"Hah!" Odo lunged forward, thrusting his spear at Skull in retaliation. Skull was able to block the hit but the sheer force nearly toppled him over.
"Gah!" Skull staggered but was able to catch his feet. "Guess he can take some hits pretty well…so how about this! Zio!" Skull pointed his hand forward and Captain Kidd mirrored this action, pointing his cannon arm forward to release a potent bolt of lightning that struck Odo. "How's that!?"
"Gghhh…!" Odo grunted from the attack. He was going to strike back, but as he lifted his spear, Panther's whip wrapped around his arm. "Huh!?"
Panther held a smirk as her mask burned off in blue flame, calling forth Carmen. "Let's go, Carmen!" Carmen appeared behind Panther, throwing a moderately sized fireball towards Odo. Agilao flew towards the manager with intent to burn him to a crisp.
"Don't take me for a fool!" Even though his arm was restrained, Odo was able to make use of the spell Makarakarn. A magical barrier appeared in front of him that not only blocked the incoming spell, but also redirected it towards Panther, which exploded once striking her.
"Ow! That hurt…!" Panther grunted. She was forced to pull back after her own attack struck. Her affinity kept it from hurting too much, but that was still pretty annoying.
Fox was next, leaping high into the air while bringing his katana down. His strike was blocked by Odo's spear, but that's precisely what he was hoping for. "Goemon, strike!" Goemon appeared next to Yusuke, slashing its frigid blade at Odo's side, causing him to stagger from the hit. Bufu was used in many ways and it even froze over his side.
"Stupid brats!" Odo used his spear to break the ice on his side before an aura swirled around him. He used Charge, doubling the power of his next strike. "Take this!" And then he used Masakunda, this AOE debuff spell lowering the agility of the Phantom Thieves.
"What the…?" Joker shook his head, feeling more sluggish than usual.
"NOW!" Odo lunged towards Fox, who attempted to block the incoming Assault Dive. He held strong for a few seconds before he was ultimately thrown back into Mona, the overall force managing to damage the both of them.
"Fox, Mona! You two okay?!" Joker asked while calling forth Matador, using the Death's arcana's twin sabers to duel with Odo.
"Just fine!" Mona said while hopping up. "It'll take more than that to take us down!"
"Good!" Joker then swapped Matador for Arsene, his initial Persona. He snapped his fingers and Persona threw a glob of darkness towards Odo. "Eiha!"
"What a weak attack!" Odo easily sliced through the Eiha with his spear, but as he did that, he noticed Mona and Skull rushing him down with their weapons. Just as they were about to strike, they both jumped in opposite directions. Odo thought they were going to attack so he tried to beat them to the punch. But as soon as he swung, he was left open as Panther and Fox had their guns pointed at him, beginning to open fire. "Guh! Gah…! Are you for real!?" As far as he was concerned, these brats were coming at him with real guns and those bullets hurt!
While Odo was distracted with the gunfire, Joker thought to finish this off. "Nue!" With a confident smirk, a new Persona appeared above Joker. This four legged beast dove towards the distracted Odo, an explosion occurring the instant contact was made. That finishing blow was enough to cause Odo to revert back to his 'regular' self.
"I-I'm sorry…!" Odo begged for forgiveness. "Am I really not worthy of being store manager…?"
"That's right." Joker said while slowly walking towards Odo.
Odo began sobbing. He knew he was in the wrong the whole time. "T-That's right…I knew it…people aren't property, I remember that now…I don't know how I can ever make up for this…"
"What a horrible boss…" Skull shook his head.
"You've done quite enough already." Fox said. "Why don't you just confess and turn yourself in?"
"Yeah…that's right…" Odo conceded. His Shadow vanished and returned to its self in reality, leaving behind a budding Treasure.
"Uh…what's this? Something for Chinese sweets?" Skull blinked.
"I see…so he was lining his own pockets…" Fox understood.
"We're not done yet. Let's keep going." Joker turned to lead the way back. They still had to explore the depths of Mementos that they unlocked.
.
.
Last time, their path stopped short after exploring the area unlocked after defeating Kamoshida. Now that they defeated Madarame, they were able to explore the third layer of Mementos: Chemdah. Every new layer of Mementos ended up looking crazier than the last. "Looks like we're getting deeper…" Panther said while looking out the window of the Monamobile.
"I wonder how far this one goes…" Skull asked.
"We'll find out when we get to the bottom." Joker said, getting ready to drive. But that was when a young boy in a bizarre car drove in behind them, waving on the way.
"Oh, hey Mister and friends! Thanks to you, I've been able to go even deeper into Mementos! I wonder what kind of flowers they have down here…" The boy said before driving off. It happened so quickly, they didn't have an idea as to what just happened.
"…Who was that?" Fox needed to know. Another person inside of Mementos? That was just…odd.
"That's Jose." Panther said with a sweet grin. "He's such a cute kid. We're helping him out and he's kind of doing the same! He's trying to learn about humans…which is why I think he's here? He hasn't really explained much…"
"I-I'm cute too, right!?" Mona got jealous every time Panther said Jose was cute.
"Get over it, man…" Skull could only shake his head.
"He also gave us some rock…" Joker said while beginning to drive. "Don't know what it does yet…but I've kept it in my pocket for safe keeping."
"I see…" How odd. But Fox ultimately shrugged it off. Being in the Metaverse simply meant he had to throw away what little normalcy he already had. Regardless, they continued to dive deeper and deeper into Chemdah, until eventually reaching the same wall that they did before.
"Another door…can we open it?" Panther asked.
Joker approached the door and placed his hand on it. Unlike the one they just opened, this one didn't budge at all. "Nothing." The leader of the thieves shook his head. There was no response.
"Does that mean we have to take down another Palace?" Skull suggested. Considering this was the trend they discovered, it only made sense that it had to be the case.
"Maybe…" Mona still wasn't quite sure. Something about that sounded right, but it also felt like they were thinking about it the wrong way. "Either way it looks like we can't do anything here right now…"
"Looks like we should turn back turn. I think we did pretty good day." Joker said.
"I'm beat…plus I'm a little nervous to see Hifumi's response." Panther let out a nervous laugh. That conversation was going to be a difficult one. But for now, it was time to head back and rest up for school tomorrow…
.
.
Speaking of Hifumi, she was spending her time in the church in Kanda as usual. She was practicing some shogi moves when she was approached by a few boys. Fans of hers most likely. "Is there something I can do for you…?" Hifumi was used to this and it was usually a matter of turning their requests down. Rarely did they ask something she was fully willing to agree to.
"S-So…Togo-san…! Are you going to win your next match?" One of them asked.
That was an odd question. "I fully intend to." Hifumi replied seriously. "I do not intend to lose any match for any reason. I've made it this far undefeated after all."
"You won't lose…?" Another said. "That's…"
"I-I see…" The boy looked to his friends who looked…disappointed. "Well…we'll be rooting for you as always…! Aha…" And then they scurried out.
Hifumi had a lot of questions. Fan interactions were generally weird in some way, but that was by far the strangest. Oh well. Hifumi felt her phone buzz and saw the message from Ann. "Oh…" And she had to respond.
Meanwhile, the boys outside were in a bit of a panic. They were all in the same predicament. "What are we going to do now…?" One boy asked, his tone full of hopelessness and despair.
"How are we going to get the money!?" The other was panicking. "We can't make millions in a few weeks…!?"
"They keep saying betting against her is the way to go…if she loses the payout is in our favor…she has to lose eventually, right?"
"She has to…! I don't know what I'm going to do if she doesn't…."
These boys were wrapped up in some shady activity…one that seemingly exploited them for millions of yen. They weren't the only ones in desperate need of large quantiles of money either. All of Shibuya was entrapped within the snare of a man's sin of greed…