Chapter 9

Something restarted inside of him, someone pushing a button that reignited his consciousness, and the first thing that he felt was a burning, numbing sensation that pulsed painfully in tune with his heartbeat. The second sensation that he recognized was a ghastly wail of metal scratching upon metal, it echoed across the walls and deep into his ears, the loudness of the noise enough to jumpstart his body, crushing any semblance of lethargy his brain had left.

With a violent, body-consuming twitch, Akira sprung forward, his eyes opening and was instantly blinded by the violent assault of artificial light buzzing painfully from above.

"Oh good, you're awake." As the words were spoken, a heavy, unexpected grip settled into the crook of his elbow, the binding, however, only lasted as long as it took his instincts to pull out of it.

His heart was hammering against his chest again, though he couldn't explain why. He was at a train station, not at home, nowhere near home. He knew that, he did.

"Joker!" Another, more recognizable voice called out. Akira adjusted his vision, away from the blinding effect of the ceiling and towards the more familiar flooring tiles of Shibuya station. Sandwiched between his legs, which were tingling painfully now that he was awake, lie Morgana, in his more feline-esque form, though his eyes still held the same brilliant, intelligent gleam of a human. He lifted his hand to place it on Morgana's head, but froze midway when he spotted the appearance of his own appendage.

Twisting his wrist, Akira noted the remainder of his shattered fingernails, blood weeping through the newly formed lattice in a sickening pattern and releasing an equally disturbing aroma that cut through the pungent smell of the station with ease. Two of them had been ripped clean off, leaving only the clotted bed to end his fingers, whether that was to his fortune or not, he couldn't tell; all of his fingers burned equally.

"Joker?" Morgana inquired, sounding much more reserved. He glanced around his damaged hand, towards his teammate. "Are you okay now? You kind of passed out right after we escaped, Ryuji ended up carrying you to the station since you wouldn't wake up." He'd have to thank Sakamoto later, then.

Akira nodded, and finally placed his damaged hand upon Morgana's back and stroked lightly. The cat didn't even bother to protest like he had before, and instead, began to purr lightly, lowering himself until Akira felt the weight of Morgana's head press down onto his leg. He continued to pet his teammate slowly, a slow, monotonous rhythm that started to calm even himself down, past the screeching of trains and the stampede of bystanders around them.

His finger snagged, a spike of pain rippled up into his brain and shattered the calm he'd managed to achieve within the second. Akira glanced down, past the thin trunk of Morgana's neck and towards the end of his fingers where his finger had caught on something, a white and blue something. He removed his hand from Morgana's back and plucked at it, curious, though wary. Pulling at it only revealed more and more white and blue, wrapping around the cat's neck and dipping down through his ribcage, the rest of it concealed under his teammate's prone form.

Morgana whined, as if in pain, and Akira pulled his fingers away from the bristles of black fur, releasing the wrapping of white and blue along the way. He took the freedom to observe his still injured fingers; they were still painful, and still weeping out small amounts of his blood between the patchwork of his shattered fingernails. He wondered how something like that could even happen. Lifting his other hand revealed that it had only been the one hand that had been injured, though his left was no less dirty than the right, regardless of injury.

"Yo, Ann!" A voice called out, somehow louder than the buzz of commuters and the squealing of trains. Akira turned his head and spotted Sakamoto, still in his school uniform, approaching through the small opening between the wall and the aisle of suit-wearing people. His teammate's face disappeared from view when even more adults began pouring through, disrupting the flow of traffic and filling the already packed space to the absolute brim; but just as quickly as the room filled, it was once again nearing empty as more trains were loaded.

Sakamoto approached, walked just a step past him and leaned against the wall above him. Akira watched the blond's face, taking in the poorly concealed emotions as Sakamoto observed the sea of people swimming through the station. Disgust and annoyance lingered on his face for a long time, visible even through the flashes of yellow that beamed from the train's headlights, creating endless shadows cascading on the blond's face.

"We did it, huh?" Sakamoto said, finally looking down at him.

The look, nor the smile that accompanied it, lasted long before it was interrupted by another chiming in, "Finally?"

Akira glanced to his left and took in the seated form of Takamaki, the girl from his class, who had dragged him away to save herself, this girl was the same one who had not only awakened a persona and burnt Kamoshida's eyes out of his skull right afterwards, promising to murder him. He wasn't sure how he should be acting around her. Scared? She didn't look intimidating, not in her school uniform, with her elbows digging into her knees. Not with her wide blue eyes, not as wide as Morgana's really, staring between him and Sakamoto with a very intense expression.

Was she the one who had grabbed onto him when he had woken up? It had to be. There wasn't much room, exactly, for someone to approach where he was squeezed between the bench Takamaki was sitting on and the pillar Sakamoto was leaning against. Not without alarming Morgana, at least; not that the cat was his personal security for strangers grabbing him, or anything similar.

"So the rumors were true, then…" Takamaki muttered, bringing him back to the fact that they were, mostly, having a conversation, now that Sakamoto had returned.

"Drink?" Sakamoto poised instead of replying, two sweating bottles were lifted, hovering in front of his face and towards Takamaki.

"Are either of them diet?" The blonde asked, not seeming to mind that Sakamoto was avoiding her questioning.

"Nope." Takamaki sighed, but grabbed at one of the bottles, something bright orange with equally bright font that was smothered by long, pale fingers.

"Thanks." Takamaki said, followed by the hiss of the drink opening.

"Here, dude." He recognized Sakamoto's voice, and he recognized the words, but it took him several moments to realize that they were, in fact, directed at him and the context of the phrase. In that, admittedly, long and awkward moment, the drink had been pushed even closer towards him, until he could feel where it was cooling down the air around it.

Using his non-injured hand, Akira reached up and clasped onto the base of the drink, pulling into his possession. A quick, obligatory sign worked its way through his body; his hand chopping over the other, a lowering of his upper body.

Why was he so awkward?

"That means 'thank you'." Takamaki supplied, much to his mortification. He had taught her the same sign days ago. It felt like a lifetime since then; how did she even remember such an interaction?

Much like Kamoshida's, his face wrapped in flame pretty quickly. Only his eyes remained, unfortunately, intact, and was able to watch Sakamoto's reaction; first confusion, then awkward realization. Everything was awkward, he had made everything awkward; again. That, if anything, was one of his few special skills, as well as finding other persona users, it seemed.

"Anyways," Takamaki started, drawing his attention from the stewing embarrassment that was still lashing at his cheeks. "Can you three please explain what just happened in that castle? What happened to Kamoshida? What did you mean that you could change his heart and what was with that weird note you posted all over the school?" The questions fired off, one after the other to the point that he ended up blocking his classmate out before he could forget any of her questions before he could even think up a response.

Morgana stirred within his lap, his small weight disappearing entirely to stand tall, as tall as a cat could anyway, between his legs.

"Lady Ann," Morgana addressed. Akira blinked rapidly, dumbfounded.

"And why can the cat talk?!" She hissed quietly, leaning closer to them to keep her words out of unnecessary ears. She stared at Morgana, skeptical, and perhaps even a little frightened, not that he could tell, exactly, what Takamaki was feeling, he barely knew her and each time he had seen her, the blonde had looked quite a bit frazzled.

"Should I tell her, Joker?" Morgana queried, turning towards him with a graceful twist of his neck. Again, Akira blinked, confused, wondering why it was up to him if Takamaki knew or not.

He shrugged in response.

It didn't matter now if someone knew what they'd been up to, what they worked hard to not only achieve, but keep a secret as well.

If Morgana's information had been correct, Kamoshida would become a good person, his heart now weighed with guilt instead of arrogance from his actions. Shujin Academy would become a normal school where he could peacefully live out his second year of high school, as well as his probation. Nothing should go wrong, anymore, not as bad as they had been, anyway.

"W-well," Morgana began, stammering as if he'd been put on the spot, and not by his own volunteering, "I was exploring Kamoshida's castle, the world inside of his heart, and I was investigating something within the palace that would help me restore my original form, but I was captured before I could investigate anything. Kamoshida began to torture me…" Morgana trailed off awkwardly. The silence lasted an inordinate amount of time, the atmosphere unpleasantly heavy.

It seemed they had all been pinned under Kamsohida's thumb, one way or another.

Using his uninjured fingers, Akira stroked down his right cheek. The skin prickled in agony, even with the lightest touch. He wouldn't have to look to know that it was severely bruised; Kamoshida had smacked him quite a few times, and given his dominating physique, it seemed inevitable. He couldn't bare to think about what other things Kamoshida's hands would have done if it wasn't for their actions today. If they stopped him at all, that is. Though Morgana was quite certain about the results of their intervention.

"Then these two discovered me—n-not that I was actually in danger, or anything, I was just about hatch my own escape plan when these two knuckleheads came running past." Morgana preened, his fur coated chest puffing out proudly with his own embellishments.

He took a glance over at Sakamoto. The blond's jaw was clenched, and was glaring at the sentient being between his legs.

Another voice called from between his ears, an infinitely deep chuckle resounding within his mind. "What robustness!" Arsene mused. Akira found himself agreeing, though it seemed ironic, that the cat had the largest ego of the three of them.

"So it wasn't real?" Takamaki asked, interrupting Morgana's myriad of compliments towards himself.

Beside him, Sakamoto sighed, sliding down the wall until he was nearly the same height as Akira. "It was… mostly real, I guess." The blond explained, scratching at his scalp with both hands, making it hard for even Akira to hear, as close as he was. "That world is like, inside of his head and showed… what was inside of his heart. How he thought of himself and the people around him, the bastard." Sakamoto seemed calmer now that their mission was over, Kamoshida's presence no longer a storm cloud over the blond's life, even without the change of heart that was supposed to happen.

"Inside of his heart…" Takamaki echoed quietly.

"Yeah," Sakamoto confirmed, "The way he viewed the school, the world, everyone was so fucked up that he made that world inside of him, and destroying him—well, the thing he saw himself as, was the only way to fix him. Or that's how Morgana explained it anyway." He finished, a shrug rolling through his shoulders as he finished his explanation.

"Well, it's a bit more complicated than that, Ryuji, but that pretty much sums it up, Lady Ann." Morgana agreed. Sakamoto rolled his eyes.

"So he should be like, a normal teacher now?"

Morgana hummed quietly, "If his heart wasn't too distorted, then he should become a better person, yes."

Beside him, Takamaki straightened up, "A-and what happens if his heart was too distorted?"

Morgana winced, "U-um, there is a chance that he could lose all desires… like eating, sleeping… breathing."

Takamaki gasped softly, "H-he could die?" She whispered loudly, leaning down again to hiss in Morgana's face.

His teammate wilted under the remark, oozing down into a black and white puddle under Takamaki's intense gaze, "U-um, it's a small chance, b-but yes, Kamoshida could die if he can't handle the lack of distortions and change in desires." The cat was practically squeaking every word out as the look in Takamaki's eyes only grew more and more intense.

"Didn't you want him to die anyway, Ann?" Sakamoto posed, breaking the dangerous atmosphere that Takamaki was crushing Morgana with. The blonde reeled back, another gasp tumbling from her lips, "I-I didn't mean it… Nobody deserves to die like that, not even Kamoshida…"

Sakamoto hummed apathetically.

"M-more importantly, what were those things, that monster that came out of me, and that fire? How did I make those?" Slowly, Takamaki's hands twisted until her palms were facing upwards.

Naturally, no fire spawned between her fingertips, even as the girl grunted in effort.

"Yeah, that was—" Sakamoto began, only to be interrupted.

"That was your persona, Lady Ann." Morgana piped in, his previous humbleness brought to an end with the chance of being able to explain something; an activity the cat seemed to fair.

"Persona…" Takamaki mumbled, staring towards her still unlit hands.

"It's your will of rebellion manifested."

"It's why your clothes changed, and why you can set people on fire, apparently." Sakamoto tacked on.

"Hmm," Takamaki hummed, before giggling quietly, "I barely recognized you, Ryuji, though your voice kind of gave it away. Kurikki-kun, I didn't realize it was you at all until you passed out on top of us."

Kurikki… Was this girl ever going to get his name right? Was it a joke? She seemed amused, though genuine. It wasn't even the same incorrect name from last time…

"…Kurikki?" Sakamoto queried, his brown eyes blinking owlishly when Akira glanced over at him.

"That's his name, right? I thought that's what Kawakami-sensei said the other day, but…"

The corner they'd all squeezed into went fairly quiet, considering the location.

"A-anyway," Takamaki started after a long, pregnant silence. "Maybe we should... introduce ourselves then?"

"I am Morgana!" Morgana called out, puffing up once again, all but climbing into Takamaki's lap.

"The talking cat…" Takamaki mused, reaching down and commandeering his teammate.

"I'm not a cat!" He hissed, though it was quickly soothed when Takamaki took the initiative, and began scratching under the cat's chin. Morgana purred loudly.

"I'm Ryuji, obviously, and you already knew that, Takamaki." Sakamoto greeted sarcastically.

"Maybe you… changed your name, or something—besides, this isn't about you, Sakamoto!" Ann screeched back, lifting an accusatory finger to point at the blond.

A reflective glimmer interrupted his attempt at deciphering whatever relationship his teammate and classmate had together.

Peering towards Takamaki's lap, where Morgana was perched and preening, Akira was finally able to take note of the remainder of whatever had been wrapped around Morgana's neck. The blue and white ribbon laced downward and downwards, more than scraping the cat's feet with what was hanging as the medallion of the jewelry; it was obviously meant for a human neck. A circular chunk of gold gleamed into his eyes again.

Hesitantly, Akira raised his fingers to clasp onto it, keeping the pendulum from swinging further. An encrusted angel lie upon the surface, equally as golden but with shadows and highlights that smooth metal couldn't produce. Five, perfectly even circles overlapped above the wingspan of the decorated angel.

Expensive… was his final appraisal. He was fairly certain someone like him, broken fingernails or not, should not be touching something this valuable. Akira quickly removed his fingers from the piece, allowing the pendant to sway slightly, sending reflective beams into the empty space in front of it.

"Oh, yeah, what is that thing?" Ann asked, her own, much less damaged, fingers wrapping around the medal with ease. "Morgana had it in his mouth when we got out of there."

"It's the treasure!" Morgana quipped, as if it were all quite obvious.

"But it was a crown earlier!" Sakamoto snapped, reaching over him to snatch at the medal and Morgana with it. The cat tumbled back into his lap, a sudden, unexpected weight that caused him to wince, though it didn't really hurt.

"Wasn't Kamoshida an Olympic medalist?" Takamaki asked, trying to retrieve the treasure once again, though Sakamoto just smacked her hand away each time it approached.

"That asshole never shuts up about it, but is this really the real deal? How did we get it if we were only inside of his head?" That was a good question, actually.

They all turned towards Morgana.

"W-well, the castle was inside of his head, right?" Akira nodded, made sense so far, except how it related to the very expensive medal that was currently wrapped around his little feline neck, "So the distortions caused the castle." Did Morgana not just say that? Regardless, he nodded in affirmation once again.

"But what caused the distortions?"

Ah. He realized. Yet another question that was out of his area of expertise as a high school student.

"The medal?" Sakamoto supplied, sounding as lost as Akira felt at the moment.

"I believe so," Morgana confirmed, much to his surprise, "It's kind of like, this medal resembles another time for him, when he felt he was really important, and he wants to feel that way all the time, but then… he can't feel that way, so he had to make sure that he did. What I mean is, his heart grew distorted because he wanted to feel important, like he did when he probably won this medal."

"…Why does hearing that make me feel like… an asshole?"

Takamaki snorted, "That's called empathy, Ryuji. You know what that's like, don't you? To be good at something, and have it all crumble into nothing? Only instead of dying his hair, Kamoshida…" Her gulp was audible, even in the loud train station. Additionally, Akira could practically hear her thoughts and concerns.

Takamaki hadn't seen that room, but she had seen what Kamoshida thought of her. Wanted from her. The blonde had watched an exact copy of herself get bitten in half; he wondered how she was still okay after that, or if all still felt like a dream, like the first time that he and Sakamoto had ventured into the Metaverse.

"I'm nothing like that asshole!" Sakamoto barked, his casual demeanor shattering as the blond took to his feet.

"R-Ryuji," Takamaki all but whispered, "I didn't mean it like that, I swear!"

Sakamoto had already stormed off, his form lost among the endless line of passengers.

Beside him, Takamaki sighed, and also stood, "I should go apologize… I'm such an idiot."

Akira remained silent.

"I still didn't catch your name, by the way." She pointed out, though the mood for introductions had long since went up in ashes.

He felt around his pockets for his phone, but before he could work it out of his pocket, Morgana began speaking.

"His name is Akira, but I just call him Joker!" He was quite tempted to just abandon the conversation, to walk away much like Sakamoto had done not moments ago.

"A— Akira?!" Takamaki squeaked out before he could offer his family name. Stupid cat.

"Err, r-right, I'll just be going then!" His classmate offered, "It was nice meeting you, Morgana, Akira."

His cheeks, not for the first time, singed in embarrassment, and wished, not for the first time, that the floor would just swallow him whole and he could live as one of the subway people instead of dealing with this situation.

Unfortunately, no such thing happened.