Chapter 19
Their hour isn't up by the time all of the food hits them, Morgana included, then Ryuji is leading him through the confusing hallways as they try, seemingly in vain, to find an operating bathroom. If the building they were in were any less historically relevant or any less opulent, Akira's certain the task would be much simpler. As it is now, they're on the top floor, tip-toeing past conference rooms, each one of them with a different voice filtering between the cracks in the doors.
The men's room is just as fancy as the hallways outside of them, ornate carvings crafted in gold, with heavy stone as it's flooring. The same dark red from the buffet box them in on each side.
Morgana pulls him out of his observations with a loud groan from just below his shoulder.
"Joker, h-hurry..." He moans.
Akira hurries towards one of the stalls. He hears Sakamoto taking the one right beside them. He barely has time to pull the lid open before Morgana is puking into the bowl. The sound echoes loudly in the empty bathroom and he's grateful that it was just the three of them in the room.
Nobody deserves to hear these noises from a cat... He muses in between deep breaths, doing his best to keep his own stomach under control while he positions Morgana over the toilet.
"I think that's all of it..." Morgana says some time later, running a paw over his jaw, wiping away drips of liquid that had threatened to drip off of it.
Akira uses his shoe to close the lid as well as flush it all away, doing his best to ignore the guilt that spawns when he leaves a smudge on the otherwise shiny and pristine handle. Tucking Morgana back into his bag, Akira considers checking on his other teammate, but decides, instead, to wait outside when Morgana begins to complain about the smell.
Sakamoto comes out of the restroom ten minutes later, looking less pale, and with a small smile on his face that shows off a number of teeth.
"Some buffet, huh?" The blond asks before another voice clamors over his.
"There's still no update on the case?" Someone- a man- questions. Something about his voice snaps at every fiber of his being, at the same time, it's like he's being entombed in ice. Akira freezes, shuddering from the bone-deep unease, only to be pushed to the side as a group of men start to thunder past him.
He stumbles against one of the walls, nearly toppling over a small, decorative table that probably costs more than he does, and hesitates in his apology.
The men don't stop moving, nor do they stop talking, even when Sakamoto yells after them.
"H-hey, assholes!" He yells out, recovering from being pushed against the opposite walls.
"I don't care about your opinion, you incompetent buffoon! When I say pick up the pace, you do it." The voice from before hisses.
Akira glances up from his bow, gazing through the ends of his hair and landing on a bald-headed man with thick-framed glasses.
Familiar... Is the only thought that gets across before Ryuji is tugging on his arm, all but pulling him down the hallway and after the group of business men that had just trampled over them. Something about the situation, perhaps his reaction, draws Arsene's presence from where ever it was hiding; like the volume suddenly being turned up from nothingness, a static that he's grown to ignore.
"Hmm..." Arsene says so suddenly that he mistakes it for something that had actually occurred in the real world.
His persona says nothing more though, and Sakamoto pulls them to a stop in front of the elevators, where the group of men shoved past a group of people that had been waiting. None of the people around them said anything.
Nobody but Sakamoto.
"Hey!" Ryuji barks out, pounding a fist on one the elevator's golden doors as it's about to slide shut.
"We're in a hurry." One of the men in front says, staring down at them.
"Don't bother with them!" The bald one hisses back just as the doors pull shut.
Ryuji kicks at the doors, then once more, leaving scuff marks across its gilded surface. Around them, the other people that had been waiting for the elevators start whispering; Akira can feel their gazes start to dart between them and he ducks his head, embarrassed at drawing so much attention, even if it wasn't him directly. He tugs on Ryuji's jacket before the blond releases another kick against the doors. His teammate's posture freezes, then relaxes completely.
"What the hell was up with that guy?" He asks once another elevator opens up for them.
Sakamoto's voice echoes loudly off the lift's walls, the large box completely empty except for the three of them despite the large number of people waiting behind them. When the doors had first opened, they'd ignored its presence completely once he and Sakamoto had stepped on, or at least pretended to. Morgana took the privacy as an opportunity to remove himself from the bag and was pacing around the room they were traveling in.
"Not even botherin' to hide the fact that he thinks he's better than everyone else..." Ryuji continues, tapping his fingers on one of his crosses arms. Everything about his expression makes him think of Skull, and he'd be lying to himself if he didn't feel a little afraid of the other boy at the moment; his posture was coiled up, like he might explode at any moment. Perfect for the MetaVerse, a definite threat in the real world. That didn't stop him, however, from feeling guilty about that fear, about the incident that had him doubting his teammate.
"You shouldn't lose your temper over this..." Morgana says, just as Sakamoto snaps. The blond's leg shoots back, only to rush forward and connect with the wall opposite of him with a loud bang. Around them, as well as above and below, the lift creaks ominously for a moment. Akira takes a step back, narrowing himself against the furthest corner as the floor beneath them quivers in response to the force.
Sakamoto huffs out a big sigh, his form shrinking down with it. "You're probably right... It's just... Shitty fucking adults make me so fucking angry, ya know?"
Akira isn't sure if the blond is expecting an answer when Ryuji looks up at him, but he ends up nodding; Morgana does as well, making a weird noise that seems to shrink Ryuji's posture further.
"That's why you became a Phantom Thief, isn't it? To change the hearts of people like that?" Morgana asks, standing in front of Ryuji, seemingly unfazed by the outbursts.
Ryuji's silence stretches on for a long moment before he answers, "Y-yeah... That's exactly why we did it, huh?" He responds, looking up at him again.
Akira nods in reply. It was true that they want to change hearts now, but before then, everything was about getting away from Kamoshida or trying to fulfill their end of Morgana's deal. They could have stopped- he could have stopped- yet they continued to traverse in Mementos, changing hearts still. It sounds better in the real world, where they're not shooting at people to get them to change, or threatening their lives with a fiery death. To him, at least, being a Phantom Thief was something the other two were more excited about than him. Something about the whole ordeal just seemed too strange for reality, even when he could see it with his own eyes. The MetaVerse was a place of violence that resulted in good things happening.
Does the bad outweigh the good, though? He questions for the first time. They could have just as easily killed Kamoshida as they had stopped him. They were even celebrating that lack of death with money they'd all but stolen from the man. Everything about it should sounded like something he shouldn't be doing, especially on parole. But then, inevitably, always inevitably, he thought of Suzui. If they'd been faster in dealing with Kamoshida, if they'd discovered the MetaVerse a week, or even a day sooner, they could have prevented her suicide attempt. With Kamoshida gone, he wondered what she would be feeling, if she'd be grateful that the man had confessed to his crimes or if she'd be happier if he'd been stripped of their desires like Takamaki had been on the brink of doing.
A part of him was glad, though. Glad that school would be easier for everyone now that Kamoshida was gone, himself included, as well as his two teammates, and Mishima, who could have ended up just as bad, maybe even worse, than Suzui.
Is this all worth it? He asks nobody in particular. He thinks back, recalling the feeling of the bones in his arm being shattered into splinters, when he'd been stabbed through the same arm in Kamoshida's palace or when he'd shattered all of his fingernails- again on the same arm- when they ran from the collapsing castle.
"Of course it is." Arsene responds without preamble. Akira grips at his head, a sudden headache forming in tandem with Arsene's presence. "You saved her, and them, we can save all of them..." He trails off, retreating back until he's just static at the back of his head.
When Akira nods, it's more to himself than Arsene.
It's worth it... The pain is something he can deal with, especially when all of their wounds are ones they can erase within seconds.
It's worth it. He considers, resolute.
"What took you guys so long?" Takamaki questions once the three of them return to their table, or at least, their table for the next thirteen minutes.
"Why're you all pissy?" Ryuji fires back as he's sliding in on the far side of the table.
Akira turns back towards Ann.
Had she been pissy?
He hadn't noticed.
"Sorry... I just, uh, had a run-in with some old woman a second ago." Ann sinks back into the cushions under her, visibly deflating as she continues, "She bumped into me, but then started yelling at me when she dropped her plate like it was my fault or something."
Ryuji, if anything, grows larger as Ann continues to shrink down, "Sounds like a real bitch."
Takamaki snorts into one of the hotel's fancy napkins, "Yeah, I guess so... But, the restaurant workers all looked at me with this disapproving expression..."
"I wonder if we're out of place here." She continues eventually.
Something in him loosens considerably after she says that, words he's been dying to say but unable to push them through; Takamaki understood. From her face though, Akira almost wished she didn't, that he was alone in that way.
"Fuckin' feels like it."
Ann looks up, and Akira does to, spying across the table where Ryuji is still fuming.
"Did something happen in the bathroom or something?"
Ryuji looks towards him, and Akira stares down at the gilded silverware on the table between them.
"Somethin' like that," The blond explains, "Some asshat and his crew pushed us outta the way when we were headed back down, then the assholes around us kept glaring at us like we were... I dunno..."
"A bug?" Ryuji makes a noise in agreement.
"We can change that though," Morgana pipes up, pouncing his way back onto the tablecloth, "Not all of them, but we can change their views on people like you. This power you've all awakened happened for a reason, your potential to alter hearts isn't just for people like Kamoshida, it can be for everyone that looks down on people."
The table goes silent for a long moment, their time limit drawing closer to its limit.
"Us." Ryuji finally says, shattering the tense quiet.
"Huh?"
"You said, 'people like you,' it's us, ain't it?" He explains.
Akira catches Takamaki nodding along.
Morgana nods as well, nearly stepping an a plate of beef remains as he steps into the center of the table, "Us you mean, like..." He clears his throat, "You're right, you're... really right, Ryuji."
"Phantom Thieves. Woo. Remember?" Takamaki adds, pumping her fist into the air.
"Of course..."
Ryuji leans forward, pushing plates aside as he does so, "So you think we should start looking for another palace, then?"
Ann nods, then Morgana nods along with her.
So Akira nods as well, ignoring, or doing his best, to ignore the nervous clench his stomach gives at the proposal.
"That's settled then," Ryuji continues, "So what kinda guy should we go after, a celebrity? A CEO? Somethin' like that'll definitely get us on the news."
"The news? Aren't we supposed to be phantom thieves, like being in the shadows and stuff?" Takamaki questions, also leaning forward, "Then again, if we can get people to believe in us, it might give people the courage to deal with their own problems..."
"My thoughts exactly, Lady Ann."
Takamaki opens her mouth to say something, but Akira's attention is drawn to the figure stepping towards their table, the same one who was guarding the entrance.
"Looks like our time's up." Ryuji says, taking to his feet, "We can talk more about it later, yeah?"
Akira nods absentmindedly, doing his best to shove Morgana back into his bag without being overt. Not an easy task when the cat yowls loudly as he scoops him up.
"I'm afraid your party must leave or pay for an additional hour." The man says, tugging on one lapel of his coat.
He scoots out of the other end of the table before bowing towards the man respectfully, then, carefully concealing Morgana, he follows Sakamoto and Takamaki as they make they trek across the restaurant.
"You think that Phan-site thing will have anybody with a palace on it?" Ryuji asks once the four of them are standing under the hotel's awning. In the time they'd been in the building, it had begun drizzling outside; a light shower that he saw rather than felt, though it was much cooler than when he'd first arrived, now that he thought about it.
"Rain, huh..." Morgana says from below.
"I don't see why it wouldn't." Takamaki says in way of reply. When Akira glances in her direction, the girl is pulling the back end of her coat jacket over her head as makeshift umbrella. "We can check it out later." She tacks on before running out from underneath the awning. Akira can hear her footsteps splashing on the wet concrete, but he eventually loses track of her through the sea of umbrellas. He envies them for their preparedness in that moment.
"You headin' for the station?" Ryuji asks, pulling the tail end of his own jacket to cover his face.
Akira nods, pulling the hood of his jacket over his head, praying that it'd be enough to stave off the chill that's threatening at his face and hands. With a second thought, he turns his attention to Morgana, carefully zipping up some of his bag and leaving just enough, hopefully, of a gap for the cat to breath.
Sakamoto doesn't run off like Takamaki had, instead, he strolls towards where the station is. That's not to say that the blond was particularly careful in his gait, he doesn't bother moving around any of the deep puddles that form as water begins flooding the sidewalk. His shoes slap noisily on the ground as they continue walking.
As promised, he pays for both his and Ryuji's train fare before they climb aboard, heading towards Shibuya at a nauseating pace; his stomach, for one reason or another, hypersensitive to the sensation he'd been growing used to.
"You uh," Ryuji starts, just as the train pulls into the station that connects their lines, "Wanna check out Mementos?"
When Akira looks up, the blond is smiling, even with his hair soaked through and limp.
"Sounds like a good idea to me, Joker." Morgana provides.
He shrugs in reply, neither a yes nor no.
Ryuji already has his phone in hand and Akira can see the swirling of the MetaNav as the blond activates it.
His head hurts, then he's comfortable, despite being soaked through not a moment ago.
"Oh, he's here!" A familiar voice calls out over Ryuji's, even though they should be alone in this place. "Inmate! Inmate!"
Akira glances towards one corner of the would-be platform and spots both Justine and Caroline standing between a glowing blue door.
"We have something we'd like to discuss with you, inmate, regarding your rehabilitation." Justine calls out.
Akira looks towards Skull, then Mona. Neither had seemed to notice the two girls, or their voices.
He steps around the two of them, towards the pair of wardens. Neither of them say a word as he's whisked away, another headache replaces the last one as he's thrust into the Velvet Room. Caroline steps in front of the gate that separates them, slashing her baton against the metal bars between them and making the entire room ring and echo.
Justine steps out as well, staring right at him and pinning him with her singular eye; it's red, like Caroline's had been for a moment at the other door. "It would seem, at least to us, the holders of power, that you're very... weak. Ill-suited for the avoidance of ruin, even after you've awakened to your own gifts, and still after you have forged bonds with us."
Caroline recoils from the door, staring at Justine with an open mouth, "W-we?" Her own eye flashes a bright red crimson when she stares into the cell, "I don't see any of that, Justine, I can't see his power levels at all... just his personas... and the wild card."
"Hm." Justine replies, her whole body shifts as she stares, instead, at her fellow warden, "But when I see you, I see your power, Caroline... and no persona to be seen."
Caroline shifts too, mirroring the other, "And when I look at you, I can see the compendium behind you..."
They both turn towards him, their eyes returned to their usual golden color, but Caroline is the one that speaks first, "What could this all mean... two holders of power, yet... different."
"That doesn't matter right now, nor does it concern the inmate." Justine interjects, "What does matter is the task we've been left by our master concerning his rehabilitation."
Even as they stared directly at him, Akira had the feeling they weren't speaking to him, but rather at him. Which wasn't unusual, but the way they stared at him and continued to talk as if he weren't there was disturbing.
"These sets of tasks will, without fail, help you in your journey towards strength. Along with your bonds, to us and to our master, they will be necessary for you to avoid the coming ruin." Justine continues, "Your task is to capture this persona and return it back to the velvet room where Caroline and I will examine it." She says, pulling a sheet of paper from her clipboard and handing it to him through the bars.
Akira steps forward and takes it, doing his best to commit the shadow to memory before nodding towards the warden.
Justine nods back, "But first, our master has requested something else of us; another necessity as a guest of this realm. Caroline, if you will."
Caroline steps away from the gate between them and holsters the metal baton at her waist before backing up and out of sight. Akira watches her disappear through the gaps in the bars, and listens as her voice filters through the prison walls. Caroline eases back into his vision, dragging something behind her by its handle. The construct is impossibly tall, almost reaching the prison's ceiling, but covered in an ominous blue curtain. Justine steps aside as well, tugging another, identical, curtained figure into his field of vision. The two wardens park the colossal figures on either side of Igor's desk ; the man that's usually seated behind it is absent and he finds the empty chair and desk strange to examine in how ordinary they seem.
In unison, the two curtains are pulled away, revealing two guillotines crafted in dark blue metal.
What...
"These devices will allow us to fuse the physical and spiritual attributes of your personas." Justine explains.
Caroline continues, "Like this, inmate!"
The Velvet Room erupts in pale blue fire and Akira shields his eyes from the blast. When he looks back up, there are two shadows floating in the middle of the room.
"Get over here, maggots!"
The two personas flinch violently, then float towards the two imposing towers in the room.
Akira shields his eyes from what happens next, but he ears everything that happens in the darkness. The two blades fall, skittering downwards like shattering ice and crunch loudly as they pivot through the two shadows. He can hear them cry out in the seconds that it takes for them to die; then the room awakens with a flurry of energy, strong enough to tug and pull at his clothes, he can feel it messing up his hair as well, but it stops as soon as it starts. The noncognate breeze simmers into cessation and Akira glances around his hands, spying only one persona instead of two.
"This," Justine continues, "Is the power of persona fusion."
He nods slowly.
"If there other business you wish to conduct within the Velvet Room?" She questions.
He shakes his head, still reeling.
"T-then I guess I'll return you back." Caroline informs before everything turns into nothing.
When he spirals back into consciousness, the first thing he sees is the door to the Velvet Room, the two wardens are absent from guarding it, however, and Akira glances around for them for a moment.
"Uh, dude?" Skull questions, dropping a hand onto his shoulder. Akira spies the bright yellow from his peripheral and turns around on his heel, causing the gloved hand to slide off of him. "You were spacing out pretty hard there for a sec." The blond continues.
Akira nods in reply, unsure if he should- or could- explain the things he'd just seen.
He steps away from the Velvet Room's entrance and towards the broken escalators that would lead them into Mementos, both Skull and Mona follow after him, sliding down the steps in a pace that he can't maintain. They end up at the bottom of the platform before he does, despite his early start, making him the last one to climb into Mona's bus form. The engine revs to life with loud purrs that make his skin crawl and soon the three of them are navigating dark tunnels.
It takes an hour before they stumble, coincidentally, into the shadow that matches the drawing in his pocket. It comes easily, almost enthusiastically, when Skull shoves a gun in its face and Akira absorbs it inside of him. The thing carves out a space inside of his very soul, jostling the others that share the space; they're displeased with the situation, but Akira isn't sure what to do- if there's anything that he can do- to calm them down. They find the stone door soon after, just as the headache is starting to coil down his neck.
Out from under the two of them, Morgana transforms back into his natural state and steps in front of the door.
It remains shut, not reacting at all to their presence.
"There must be some kind of trick to this..." The cat murmurs against the detailed carvings, leaving him, and Skull, to stand around the empty walkway.
Akira sits down on the floor, mostly exhausted, though part of him remains cognizant of the howling of the shadows above them. Skull squats down on the other side of the room, prodding and massaging his leg. He can't help but wonder how the blond manages to crawl the endless pathways with the steel appendages attached to him, even with Mona carrying them most of the time, without injuring himself; Skull was definitely more durable than he looked, even when he bends over himself.
Mona sighs heavily sometime later, finally stepping away from the door and turning towards them. "Well, it wasn't a complete waste of time, I can feel the both of you getting stronger with each fight."
"Well duh." Skull shoots back, climbing to his feet and sticking his bright yellow gloves inside of the endless black of his uniform.
Morgana doesn't reply, choosing to climb up the broken elevator wordlessly.
Climbing back up was much less hectic than it had been the last time they were here, so he figured Morgana's statement held some truth, even if he couldn't see the progress for himself.
"Finally..." Skull drags out, rolling his shoulders once they've reached the exit to Mementos.
Akira steps off towards the side, walking directly into the glowing blue gate that houses the Velvet Room.
"I-Inmate!" Caroline greets, "Did you forget something?"
He doesn't have time to answer before the other warden interjects on his behalf, "No, Caroline, it would seem that the inmate has brought the persona we have requested of him..."
Caroline takes a step backwards, "So quickly?"
Justine nods, "It would seem so, I can feel its potential inside of him."
"Call forth the persona, then, inmate!"
He complies, ejecting the presence from his mind- a sensation that feels almost like sneezing and leaves his nose itchy. It crows the space between him and the cell's door, a blue, flame-like aura surrounds it.
"Proficient work, inmate, if you complete all of your tasks this quickly, you'll escape ruin in no time!" Caroline comments as she steps forward. For the first time, something reaches into the cell he's trapped in- Caroline's hand- but it disappears just as quickly as it had entered, taking the persona that was between them with it. The cell feels infinitely larger without either of those things in it with him, and Akira shrinks away from the open space, uncomfortable.
"Our master will assign us your next task when it's ready, for now, you must leave this place."
He's ejected before he can either bow or wave, and is thrown back into Mementos so quickly he's certain that, for a moment, that he'd gone blind.
"Ready to get outta here?" Ryuji asks from the other end of the room.
Akira nods, waiting for Morgana to catch up to them before he activates the MetaNav.
It's still raining when they finally exit the MetaVerse, but instead of the previous misting that it had been, the rain pelted down from above. The current roared as it splashed against the concrete just outside of the station.
Beside him, Ryuji yawns loudly, stretching his arms and popping multiple bones. He can barely hear it, but he knows those things are there.
He's very tired.
"I'm gonna head home, don't forget we got school tomorrow." Ryuji imparts, smiling down at him. Akira isn't sure why. "See ya!" The blond says, disappearing into the sea of umbrellas.
Akira finds the closest wall from the entrance of Mementos and slides down it as soon as his back connects with it. He's asleep before he can really help it, before he can adjust Morgana to a more comfortable position.
The rain is still a never-ending static when he wakes up, roaring around him, but not touching him.
"Excuse me..." A voice, masculine and formal; and far too close.
His entire body tense before he can help it. Curling in on himself, Akira wraps his arms around his folded up knees and squeezes, most likely squishing Morgana, but it's not like he can help it.
"You're magnificent." The same voice says.
Akira glances up at that; a police officer would never say anything like that, nobody would ever say anything like that to him.
The man is tall and, from where he's hunched over himself, Akira has to bend backwards just to see his face.
Creepy... Is his first thought, when his gaze clashes with the other's, staring into the watery blue eyes of a stranger who'd been standing over him while he slept.
I guess I was in a public place. Akira rationalizes, still unsure of how to proceed.
"You radiate a well of sadness like an aura. It is endlessly captivating, if I might say..." The guy says, still staring down at him, unblinking, even as he continues, "Even with this weather, I can still feel you, calling out to me with the tilt of your jaw, the furrow in your brow. Were you having a dream of sorts? You were scratching at your neck, it did hinder the feeling I get when I'm this near to you, yet added something vital that it had been missing; serenity clashing with your ferocity. I think, though, that this sketch only scratches the potential that I feel coming out of you. Your face screams out with innocence, but your eyes are..."
Akira blinks, wondering if he should start running.
"Please, let me paint you." The guy says.
Definitely should have ran...
