Disclaimer: I own Neither Senran Kagura nor Persona 5.

Homura didn't think that she'd have to fight against Asuka in a training match. But she gave her no choice. Losing that badly to Gessen and Hebijo before she got there? Absolutely pathetic of her rival. Seriously, what was she going to do with her?

There were things she was and weren't willing to tolerate. Asuka losing wasn't one of them. So right now she's training her to win against Hebijo and Gessen.

"Don't tell me that's all you've got!" Homura yelled at her rival, slashing at her with her swords, matching her wakizashi before overpowering her.

"Are you seriously the same person that beat me before?" Homura asked her after seeing her fall down. "You're weaker than you were last time."

"Hey! I've been training hard since we last fought!" Asuka protested against her.

"Really? I don't believe you." Homura told her bluntly. "Otherwise you guys wouldn't have lost as easily as you did against them."

"Moh! We technically didn't lose!" Asuka protested against her. "And I was already thrashed when Miyabi showed up!"

"Riiiiiight." Homura said, while drawling the word out. "Real Shinobi don't need excuses.

"Moh! Well what about you! You had a clean shot at her from behind and still couldn't finish her off!" Asuka pointed out to her rival.

"Gah!" Homura said, wincing from the sharp point that she's made.

"W-well that's because I didn't want to win so easily!" She told her, making an excuse. "Just because I'm an Evil Shinobi doesn't mean that I fight dirty!"

"Riiiiiiight." Asuka saidz, drawling out the word like Homura did earlier with a smirk on her face. "Nice excuse. Guess you're not a real Shinobi either."

"Why you…" Homura started before calming down. "I've gotta say Asuka. You have some real nice skin."

Asuka was confused by the sudden praised that came out of nowhere to her.

"Uh, I d-don't see where this is coming from, but thanks." She told her rival in response to her sudden compliment.

"It's weird gow you have no scars on it though." Homura continued, "Almost like you haven't been training hard enough lately."

"Wha-? Hey! I have training scars too you know!" Asuka protested against her, though Homura was still in complete doubt.

"Oh really? Where are these scars of yours?" She asked her.

"There on my butt!" Asuka responded fiercely, causing Homura to blank out for a bit.

"...Huh?"

"My training scars are on my butt!" Asuka repeated herself loudly and proudly, not having any shame on this matter.

"Okay, why are they there?" Homura asked her, completely confused on the way that she's been training until now. Was she a weird butt masochist?

"So where are your scars, Homura-chan?" Asuka asked her, challengingly.

"O-on my inner thigh." Homura responded to her, embarrassed by it's location.

"Eh? How did you get scars there?" Asuka asked her, confused on how that could happen.

"Okay! Enough talking! Back to training!" Homura said before rushing Asuka with her swords with absolutely zero hesitation on her attacks. Asuka responded proudly in kind.

Right now in a Shinobi Kekkei away from the ones at Hanzō, there were two members of the Phantom Thieves of Hearts fighting each other in a sparring match in the Shinobi Kekkei. A battle were Ren was pretty much dominating,

"Hyahh!" Morgana shouted as he made his own attacks towards Ren. Ren however dodged Morgana's sword strike by sidestepping him and responded by shooting at him from behind. Multiple times.

"Ah!" Morgana said after falling to the ground. Morgana then looked towards his training partner. Ren then slashed at Morgana, who managed to dodge, only losing a few strands of his fur in the process. Ren the rushed towards Morgana, infusing his knife with curse energy before slashing at him, getting more reach with his attack and managing to land a hit on Morgana who fell backwards into the ground. Ren then pointed his gun right in front of Morgana's face, marking his victory over the cat quite decisively.

"...You really hold nothing back, don't you Joker?" Morgana asked him after Ren removed his gun from his face. This was their 19th match in the last few hours they've been in here. And all of them resulted in Morgana's complete and total loss.

"Just wanted to get some good experience in this thing." Ren told Morgana calmly, putting away his weapons. "And we obviously need it." Ren told him.

"Yeah, guess we've been slacking off pretty hard since we left Tokyo." Morgana said in agreement.

"So, did Zorro give you any master arts yet?" Ren asked his cat.

"Yeah, he's given me two. One when we were at Hanzō, and one one just this now." Morgana told him. "Though I haven't had a chance to test it out."

"Really?" Ren asked him. "Why?"

"Cause you wouldn't let up on me at all." Morgana pointed out to him. "You aren't easy for me to fight on my own, you know."

"Huh. Guess you have a point." Ren said as he thought about it. His body wasn't just larger than Morgana's, but he's physically superior to him as well.

"Didn't think about it too much since you always had no problem fighting alongside me and the others before after all." Ren told him. "Guess you're better than I thought you were." Ren admitted to him

"Of course I am. didn'. I'm far too skilled to let you guys show me up in any way at all." Morgana said in a slightly condescending manner to him. "But let's hope that we're good enough to beat them."

"We'll win." Ren told him confidently. "We've never failed a job before, so we aren't going to fail it now."

"Heh. Yeah." Morgana told him with a fatty smirk on his face. "It's be bad if we failed on our own."

Just then time seemed to stop for him and him alone. And then he heard a familiar voice in his head.

I am Thou….Thou Art I

The Magician Arcana has once

Again answered your call….

Let us fly together on our wings of freedom

Just as quickly as time seemed to stop, it started back up again. Morgana didn't seem to notice anything.

"Anyways, let's go. We've been at this for a few hours now." Ren told Morgana. Ren then raised his arm before saying "Kekkei Break," destroying the Shinobi Kekkei that they were in. They were then in front of Hanzō's sushi shop, back in the real world. Ren still had his arm raised before lowering it entirely. They then went back inside the building.

"So, how was training?" Hanzō asked them after they left the Kekkei. Ren turned towards him and said to him with the most casual response possible.

"Alright. But we should probably move out soon."

Ren then started to look at the futomaki rolls that Hanzō had made for them. They were way too thick.

Ren couldn't possibly imagine why Hanzō made them this thick. No, wait, an answer appeared in his mind, but Ren didn't want it to be right. Ren then picked it up and took a bite out of it. Ren then handed one to Morgana who ate it as well.

"This is pretty good." Ren told Hanzō, before taking another bite out of it.

"So, why if all things you could've done after retirement, did you choose to run a sushi shop?" Ren asked him. It still seemed a bit strange that a Shinobi would

"Meh. I was pretty talented when it came to making sushi, and I just love making futomaki rolls." Hanzō told him simple, cleaning up his area.

"Why?" Morgana asked him before Rain could have told him not to. ANd they got the answer that Ren was expecting.

"Simple. With their size, girls have only one way to eat it." Hanzō told them proudly. Ren could only sigh and look away from him. Why did the one who acted as the middleman have to be such a huge pervert. But Ren had something else on his mind right now that he's felt needed to be addressed.

"So, mind telling me why we aren't just taking a fight to them right now?" Ren asked Hanzō. "They're still here aren't they?"

"Simple. They've already recovered enough strength that a frontal assault would just be stupid."

"Who said about fighting them all at once?" Ren responded to Hanzō. "There's gotta be a time when they're separated, and since I've already managed to beat one of them on my own, I think two or three should be within our strength."

"Hmm. You may have a point." Hanzō admitted to him. "Though they might be separated into groups that can support the others' weaknesses." He pointed it out to him.

"So?" Ren asked him casually,a cocky smirk on his face."That at least makes it a challenge."

Hanzō then noticed something. 'He's confident in his victory, but I'm not seeing any arrogance, or overconfidence for that matter. It's more like he's aware of his abilities

"Tell me, what do you think it means for a persona to be both a sword and a shield?" Hanzō asked Ren and Morgana after a while. They both looked at him as if he'd asked them what 2 2 was.

"To protect your friends with all of your might against all enemies that stand before you." Ren told him casually.

"Oh? You must've gone through quite a lot to understand it that quickly."

"No, a complete idiot could easily have figured it out." Ren told Hanzō. It wasn't that hard of a question. But what did hanzō want to know from him by asking it.

"I'm certain anybody could have answered that question." Ren told him bluntly.

simply.

"Yeah, it wasn't that hard of a question." Morgana added, repeating what Ren just thought out loud.

"If you asked a random civilian I'm pretty sure that they could understand it. I'm pretty sure this idea came up in a battle shounen at least once." Ren told him bluntly.

But then something they didn't expect happened.

"HAHAHAHAHA!" Hanzō laughed loudly, not expecting the follow-up responses at all,

"I'm sure that you're completely right about it.."Hanzō told him with a laugh. "It seems we Shinobi are farther away from humans than I thought we were."

"Have you ever tried acting like a regular human being?" Ren suggested to him. "It's easier than it sounds, and is probably a lot more preferable than how you act currently.

Ren then heard a gasp and turned around to see who it was. And saw that it was coming from two people that he never expected to see together at all.

"So, Asuka, why are we going to your grandpa's shop?" Homura asked her. After they completed training with them, Asuka suddenly insisted that they all go somewhere together.

"Ti thank you guys for helping us!" Asuka told them brightly.

"Eh!? Makoto-kun!" Asuka said in surprised.

"Amamiya-san!?"

"I have no idea who you're talking about." Ren said, telling the boldest lie that the Crimson Squad has ever heard.

"No! You're definitely the guy who treated us to meat!" Homura told him.

"Eh? Do you guys know Makoto-kun?" Asuka asked the Crimson Squad.

"Makoto? No. His name is Ren Amamiya!" Mirai told her.

"I think you both got me mistaken for the wrong person." Ren told them again. They were really sharp to figure out his brilliant act, but he's got to remain strong and confident in it.

"Oh really? Then explain that cat!" Homura pointed out the cat that was on the counter eating sushi without a care in the world.

"He's my therapy cat." Ren told her. "He's help keeps me level. Ain't that right Morgana?" Ren said, petting the cat.

"The kitty's name was Morgana too!" Mirai pointed out, not forgetting the name of the black cat that she saw in his bag that day.

"Morgana is a very common cat name, like Kuro or Snowball." Ren told them another boldfaced lie.

"There's no way that it's common!" Homura shouted at him, getting more and more angry.

"Why are you so insistent that you know me?" Ren asked her.

"Because- I- huh." Homura soon calmed down. Why was she trying so card on this? Simple, because him being here was suspicious enough, and that. But telling him this may tip him off on something. So playing calm is better than nothing.

"Why are you trying so hard?" Hikage asked her leader, her eyes telling her to calm down and think this through. "It's not like you to care so much about something like this."

"Where did you think you saw me anyway?" Ren asked them.

"Oh, out in the country." Mirai told him while petting Morgana.

Homura's eye twitched at Mirai giving away information so easily.

"

"Why are you trying so hard?" Hikage asked her leader.

"My? What's with all the ruckus out here?" Hanzō asked, appearing from behind.

"Just chatting up with some girls,

"Pervy Gramps?" Asuka repeated. "I honestly wish that I'm able to deny it at all." She said with melancholic acceptance.

"Come now Asuka. Is it truly perverse to want to grope a young woman's boobs?" Hanzō asked her seriously, only to get the expected responses.

"Yes."

"There's no doubt about it."

"Eh, not really."

"How are you not on some kind of list."

"Uh-huh."

"You truly are the legendary pervert told in stories."

Ren thought that there was a response that didn't belong in there.

,

"So, what are you girls planning on having?" Ren asked them. "Cause I'm personally planning on having something spicy today."

The girls then sat down for sushi and Homura returned soon after calming down quite a lot. But when she did return she shot Ren a dirty look before sitting down with her friends. Ren guessed that she was still mad at him for some reason. Ren then started a conversation with them to help make small talk with them.

"So, what's your relationship with the old perv." Ren asked them.

"He's my grandfather." Asuka said while sweat dropping at the old perv comment that he's made, but it seems like she wasn't going to defend him either. Since she is his granddaughter his flaws must be much more obvious to her.

"I'm sorry that you have a grandfather like that." Ren said while bowing his head towards her.

"It's okay." Asuka told him. "He's calmed down in the last week."

"This is him being calm?' Ren asked her, shocked. What he's like when he's excited. How many sexual harassment suits were made against him.

"Zero." Asuka told him suddenly out of nowhere.

"Huh?" Ren asked her, confused on why she just said that to him.

"Sorry, it's just that I'm so used to hearing certain questions about him that I instinctively learned to answer with the number zero." Asuka told him.

"Again, I'm sorry for you." Ren told her once more. Asuka could only sigh in response to that

Ren's phone then started to ring a bit. Ren took a look to see who it was and saw that it was coming from Makoto. Ren then got up to take it without any if them hearing them talk.

"

"Well I think she thinks I'm hanging around a bunch of perverts right now." Ren told them casually. "But who cares about little details like that?" Ren asked them.

"Have any of you look at yourselves eating one of these?"

"Oh, I know." Haruka

Ren was once again in the Velvet Room.

"Welcome back to the Velvet room. How are you doing so far on your current journey?" Igor asked Ren.

"I think I'm doing all right so far." Ren answered him with his honest opinion.

"That's wonderful to hear." Igor responded. "Though I've summoned you here to talk about a new possibility that you have acquired." Igor told him with lavenza appearing with the Persona Compendium in her hands. And something started to rise out of it. A tarot card? But which arcana was it. Ren

"A new possibility forms from the fact that there are no shadows to aid you in this journey, thus your bonds provide you with a new strength." Igor told him. "Truly interesting indeed."

"An unexpected possibility, truly one deserving of the Trickster." Lavenza told him.

"What is it?" Ren asked them, not getting what they were trying to say to him.

"Any persona of the Magician Arcana that you used in the past can now be used once more." Igor told him. "Though you are only able to use one persona of this arcana at a time, it will surely help you along the journey that you are undertaking."

"Okay then, I call forth," Ren then thought about it, which persona did he want helping him during this time period? Well time to go for an old reliable one, "Surt!"

Ren the arcana then transformed into blue flames releasing a high amount of power from them, though it couldn't even touch Igor or Lavenza's bodies or clothes. In fact Lavenza said in response to this,

"My, it's getting a little hot in here, isn't it?"

The persona that appeared was something that Ren definitely remembered using before. Surt.

"Trickster, once more I shall lend your mask my aid, and we will burn all enemies who oppose us." Surt said before turning into a replica of his mask and flying towards Ren face, entering his body.

"Surt, it's a pleasure to see you once again." Arsene told Surt from inside his mind."You as well, Arsene." Surt said in greeting towards him. "Though I see that you've added some shag carpeting this time around."

"Wanted to try something new." Arsene told him.

"Really? Shag carpet though?""Eh. Was either this or a tiger skin rug."

What was going on inside him? Ren was left to wonder this fact deeply as they conversed inside him. Seriously, is there some kind of apartment inside of him? "

At Hebijo Clandestine Academy For Girls

"Dōgen-sama." Miyabi called out to the man as he's entered his office.

"Yes Miyabi?" The man responded to her. He was a tall, muscular blonde man, wearing a red suit. Everything about him was gaudy to the point of unnecessary. But She had no time to focus on that right now.

"Did you manage to find out how he's caused the mental shutdowns?" Dōgen asked her. This was a very important matter for him. He's managed to trace the means of doing so to Cognitive Psience, but the how was still lost on them.

"Even with our other techniques and use of truth serums, he's still not saying how to do so." Miyabi told him.

"I see. If he's not breaking down and telling us within two more days, despise of him. We have no use for something that strong-willed." Dogen told her casually, as if telling her to swat a bug. But unfortunately this would soon prove troublesome.

Not having the ability to cause mental shutdowns and psychotic breakdowns was truly a lost, but Cognitive Psience has proved beneficial for him in other ways that he's didn't know was possible.

According to his findings on the matter, everyone shared a general cognitive world. A collective unconsciousness. That is truly something worthwhile for him. If there is something like that, then it would probe useful for him.

"Anything else you want to report?" Dōgen asked her, in obvious mock curiousity. Anything else that didn't relate to the cognitive world was useless to him right now.

"No sir. Nothing of importance." Miyabi told him before making her exit from the room

"Soon, my new grand plan shall be completed." Dōgen told himself. After everything that happened to him, soon his grand ambitions will finally come to light.

a