Chapter 28
"Not impossible." Arsene corrects him, thundering inside of him with a folly of laughter. "Merely improbable."
Bright blue flames explode out from Kitagawa's body, a massive pillar shoots upwards from his form, nearly white for all it was blinding. The fire lapped outwards like waves of water, pushing and pulsing, and expanding endlessly. Kitagawa's light reveals the darkened ceiling, exposing the barely visible curls of the golden statue that spirals into the endless ceiling. Then it shoots outwards.
Shocked as he is, Akira does nothing as it happens. His legs refuse to respond, his hands curl around dangerous steel, but refuse to cause harm. The unfamiliar heat washes over him, warming him, but it does not burn or injure him; painless flames flicker over his feet, expanding outwards without lingering in the space around him. Growing higher, and as if they were made of nothing, the flames shoot upwards, now shooting out of Kitagawa's chest and through him- or maybe around him, he can't quite tell. The room fills with even more blinding heat.
He's still not injured.
The shadows surrounding the five of them start backing away, smudges of darkness that begin fading behind walls of shifting fire, but Madarame's gilded frame remains in front of all of them, seemingly unimpressed by Kitagawa's destructive display.
Akira's not sure if it's because of the fear that he, himself, is feeling, being too scared to react, to move or fight, or the opposite.
As quickly as the flames had appeared, ensconcing the museum with its azure glow and warmth, they vanish. In the center of it all stands Kitagawa, dressed in different clothing, his once paint-spotted, bleeding, and skeletal hands and feet are covered in dark material. But just as quickly as he notices that, the air in the room shifts yet again, a warning that he barely perceives before the space around him, and Kitagawa, and his teammates, seems to explode once again.
In the moment of calm, Akira catches a glimpse of Kitagawa and his teammates, all of them alive and standing, except Kitagawa's face was splashed in blood, the crimson trickled into his bright blue eyes and into the crevices of his sharp, curled smile. The expression sent shivers up his spine.
Pillars upon pillars of ice replace what had once been a similarly colored flame. Sharp, pointed edges explode outward in a wide, sweeping arc, piercing through several of the shadows that had been retreating. Human-sounding screams echo through the room, muffled by the sounds of ever-expanding ice. The ice is also what Madarame seems to react to, Akira catches his face morphing into something terrifying and infuriated just before the older man's golden attire beings to flows like liquid as he retreats towards the stairs. The ice follows, moving like a wall in Madarame's direction, expanding on itself in branches to reach him.
Akira remains still, watching; confused.
"A breathtaking sight!" Kitagawa's deep voice calls out, sounding impossibly loud, through the sounds of still shattering ice and colliding blades. It somehow catches Akira's attention. He turns away from Madarame's fleeing form and the urge to chase after him, to find where the man is hiding the treasure, vanishes.
"Imitations they may be, but together, they make a fine spectacle. Though the flowers of evil blossom, be it known that abominations are fated to perish!" With a forceful shout, Kitagawa throws a hand towards his teacher, the man he'd called father moments ago, and a massive figure emerges from behind him. The figure's form is familiar, but not, dressed in traditional clothing from a period he can't quite name. It's not dissimilar to how Madarame had dressed in the real world, in yukata of simple colors. Kitagawa's persona was more human-like than any he'd seen before. It draws his attention more than the shining blade arcing downwards and towards Madarame's shadow.
The blade misses and whistles past where Madarame's head had just been. The blade pierces into the golden stairwell, shattering one of the large steps; a massive pillar of ice, a twin to the hundreds- or maybe thousands- that were sweeping across the room, launches skyward from the destruction, obscuring Madarame from view for just a moment before the man reaches the peak of the stairs.
With another shout from Kitagawa, the ice around chasing after Madarame moves even faster, throwing itself with impossible speed towards the fleeing man. An avalanche of ice shatters against a quickly shut door, exploding in hundreds of sharps spears that fall to the ground, shattering further as they do.
Akira glances, finally, towards Kitagawa. Watches the other boy march over the field of ice he'd just created in attempt to chase after his retreating mentor. Akira also watches him fall over, collapsing onto himself.
The room goes quiet. The fighting, the screaming, the shattering, exploding ice. All of it disappears when Kitagawa falls to his knees at the frozen over steps that Madarame had just fled upon.
"H-how many..." Kitagawa huffs, his breath appears with clouds of vapor, spilling out in front of him. "How many dreams did you exchange for riches, sensei?"
More ice, somewhere behind where Akira's gaze is glued on this stranger's form, shatters, crashing down. Pellets of ice flick at his legs, but Akira barely notices them.
Kitagawa reaches out with bright blue gloves, clawing at the frozen over steps the same way he'd done at the floor earlier. A massive, form floats over him, sword in hand, matching the one that was strapped to Kitagawa's back.
Persona. Akira recognizes, but does nothing else. He's not even sure what he can do, let alone should.
"How many did you trample upon?" Kitagawa falters again and falls flat against the stairs, his head knocks loudly against one of the steps. He remains still, breathing heavily against the icy surface and sending plumes of steam towards the now darkened ceiling.
"Kitagawa!" Takamaki- Panther- shouts. Ice crunches to his side, growing louder until he sees her run past him and crouch by Kitagawa's now prone form.
Her arms scoop under Kitagawa's still form, red and pink contrasting with icy blues and whites. At the same time, Akira feels something scooping over his own shoulders and neck, unusually warm; a similar feeling grows against one leg.
"You okay, dude?" Skull asks, suddenly close. His face is bleeding and Akira looks away from it. A yellow glove hangs off of his shoulder, the rest of his teammate is hanging off the other. The blond is shaking, something Akira can feel almost as deeply as his still racing heart.
Akira finally gets himself to nod, bobbing his head. He's not sure if it's a lie or not. He feels numb. Moments before, he'd been faced with imprisonment, then with death. Paint was still drying on his fingers under his gloves and his chest was being hammered against with a force he can't quell. He feels hot, though he know he shouldn't be, the entire room was encased in ice after all, and Skull's shivering finally made him realize it.
"J-Joker?" Morgana stammers, drawing his attention downwards. The cat is shivering too, pressed against his leg and shaking, his sword is still in hand though, trembling in his grip.
"We should p-probably go check on him, huh?" Skull suggests, gesturing with one hand- the one hanging from Akira's shoulder- towards Panther and Kitagawa.
Akira nods once again, something about the instruction finally gets his body to react to his instructions. Skull finally pulls away from him and Morgana does the same, both of them drawing close to each other as they walk towards the other pair. Akira steps forward as well, but stops once again, and stares down at his feet.
The golden flooring lies under his boots, unhindered by the ice. Glancing behind him, he notices much of the same, a large yellow circle, before sharp arrays of ice start piercing through the space, creating walls and spikes where nothing had been; a lot of it is blocking the door, which is something he should be worrying about, but can't seem to manage. Kitagawa's attack hadn't hurt him at all, nor any of the phantom thieves, but had managed to destroy all of Madarame's guards and almost the man himself.
It had been devastating. In a matter of moments, Kitagawa had created so much, had done so much. It was even more destructive than Panther's awakening, and much, much more than his own had been.
Nothing about Kitagawa had seemed- Akira's not sure what to call it, nothing sounded correct, he barely knew Kitagawa and only met him a few times- off, nothing that would have lead to this moment. Nothing about the artist, who'd dispelled Sakamoto's judgments about Madarame so quickly and assured them that everything was fine, told him that this could have happened; that Kitagawa had the will to rebel, that he had something to rebel, caught him off guard.
Akira knows that it shouldn't. Kamoshida had awoken the same instinct in the three of them. A fear so primal, a desperation to stay alive that Akira couldn't replicate, a conviction that he still finds himself doubting, and something else that he doesn't know the name of. All of that had awoken his other half, had caused Arsene to make the same flames and cause the same destruction.
Kitagawa Yusuke was so much like him as well.
But that wasn't true either. Akira could never face his parents- or even just his father- like Kitagawa had just done. He could never call Arsene to help him in the same situation. Yet Kitagawa had done just that! The other boy had called forth a power like his own and struck out at his teacher.
It was...
Amazing. Akira envies Kitagawa. A bone-deep jealousy to replicate him, to be like him, pervades every part of him for an instant. He wonders if the artist was who Morgana had been looking for all the time he'd spent with Akira instead.
Akira steps forward, unsure of his footing or standing, and stares down at Kitagawa's slumped form. The other boy's head is elevated in Panther's lap, cushioning it from the icy floor the rest of his body is subjected to.
His words shoot out with tendrils of icy air. "Please... I need to keep going!" He pleads quietly.
"Kitagawa-kun, you're completely drained right now!" Takamaki says sharply, but just as quietly. "Even if we did find him, you don't have enough strength to fight him!"
"Please, Takamaki-san." Kitagawa pleads still. The artist attempts once again to climb back to his feet, to chase after Madarame, but can barely lift himself before he's falling back against Takamaki once again. "What a disgrace I am..."
"Just listen to her, man." Skull tries. The blond takes a seat next on the frozen steps, which crunches under his weight. "We need to get you outta here."
"Out?" Kitagawa huffs, his breath bursting forward like a bullet. "I've only just arrived here, in sensei's heart of all places. I have no intention of leaving this place until I pull answers unyielding from him! The veil in front of me has been lifted finally and you want me to put myself back under because of mere exhaustion?"
"I know." Skull says in return.
"You know?" Kitagawa snaps back, "How could you possibly-"
Skull cuts him off, "I know! You're probably feelin' like you need to go after that asshole or whatever, to get the truth or revenge. I know because I've been there. We all have, all four of us. We had someone just like your sensei- I mean, not just like, but he was pretty damn bad. A-anways, what I'm sayin' is, me, Ann, and him, we've all been through this, so you gotta listen to us or you're just gonna get hurt."
Just over his teammate's shoulder, Morgana nods silently.
"He's right, Kitagawa-kun." Panther agrees. "It may not feel like it right now, but we do know what you're going through. And you may not like it, but the best thing to do right now is to get you out of here."
"And where would I go?" The artist questions quietly. "I've been disowned, no, let go, to be more precise."
His teammates, in unison, look back at him, but say nothing.
Akira says nothing as well.
"But perhaps you're correct, Takamaki-san. I am feeling quite drained all of a sudden." Kitagawa continues.
"Gee, thanks." Skull says quietly. Kitagawa, despite being hit with Skull's breath, doesn't seem to react at all to the blond's words.
"Great!" Takamaki says, maneuvering her shoulder under Kitagawa's. Without prompt or provocation, Skull does the same thing on the artist's other side, leaving the boy between them lopsided, but standing.
"You an' Morgana are gonna have to lead us outta here." Skull advises, hauling Kitagawa towards icy field he'd created earlier.
Akira nods back and waits for Morgana to step beside him before they start walking towards the exit.
"It's frozen over." Morgana points out. "Do you think you can melt it, Joker? Trying to smash through all of this would take hours."
Closing his eyes, Akira sinks back into the other part of himself- the place where Arsene and his other personas linger. With the chill working its way through his fingers and toes, it's harder to reach that place, but when he calls out, grasping at another presence, one of them answers his call and sets the space in front of them ablaze. The fire's heat feels alien as it penetrates through his coat and into his skin, but he refuses to relax into it, to be caught in another set of fetters. Kitagawa's fire and ice had stunned him earlier, but he couldn't afford to do it a second time; nobody else was around to awaken a destructive power capable of saving them.
Blocks of ice crumbled down from the wall and doorway, shattering like glass onto the frozen, golden floor. Morgana's persona was able to sweep the larger chunks away from the doorway with a gust of wind and the door swept open easily, but loudly, creaking in ways it hadn't the previous times they'd been through it.
"I caused this..." Kitagawa observes quietly. Neither Panther, nor Skull answer him, so Akira doesn't turn around. With Morgana at his side, he continues leading the five of them through the museum's corridors. His grasp on Arsene's presence is almost as tight as his grip on his weapons and the fight or flee makes his shoulders tense up; with a group this size, it'd be difficult to run away without alerting any other shadows, but fighting would mean it would just be him and Morgana defending the other three and Akira's not sure he's capable of doing so completely.
They manage to get to the galleries they'd entered from before they catch a shadow's attention. The flashlight in its hand washes over them, only partially blinding. It takes a moment for the thing to recognize what they are, but before it can shout at them or call for help, Morgana's sword is slashing outwards, knocking the guard off balance.
"Please!" It begs, melting into a smaller form. "Spare me!"
"Wait!" Arsene orders. Akira freezes, then side-steps in front of Morgana just before his teammates takes another swing.
"Mercy!" It cries out again. Black ooze drips off its body, revealing a bulbous head- not dissimilar to Morgana's, though bright white where Morgana is dark, and tear-filled eyes.
"The request." Arsene points out to him. "It's him. The abomination the warden spoke of."
Akira nods to his other half and digs into the pocket of his coat. The folded and yellowed paper does little to hide the resemblance between the drawing and what's in front of them.
Jack Frost. He reads once more. The thing steps forward once more, its beady eyes drip tears as the shadow looks up at him. Akira steps forward as well and the sudden proximity is enough for the monster to disintegrate entirely, leaving nothing but traces of light as it rushes towards him. A phantom touch pushes into his mind and body, carving a place among Arsene and the others within him.
"Amazing..." Morgana whispers into the gallery.
"W-wait!" Kitagawa suddenly calls out, just as Akira is about to continue forward. He turns around just in time to see the artist stumble onto the floor in front of him.
"Hey!" Panther shouts loudly. She stumbles forward as well and tries to reform her grip on the boy's arms, but Kitagawa crawls away from her grasp and towards the wall.
"Senpai..." Kitagawa suddenly says, staring up at the painting of Nakanohara.
"Senpai?" Skull questions, "You know Nakanohara?"
"I could ask the same of you, although you all do have a background in art so it might make sense that you'd be familiar with him... Regardless, Sensei- Madarame told me he was the one to steal the Sayuri from him, but... why is he here? Framed in sensei's heart?"
"You're here too." Skull comments.
"That's not exactly the truth..." Panther answers. Her hands twist around the coils of her weapon, making it squeak quietly.
"The truth?" Kitagawa echoes from his place in front of Nakanohara.
"We aren't involved in the art community, not in the way you think anyway." She answers. "Akira-kun isn't a model and Ryuji and I don't work for him."
Skull snorts. "I didn't even know who Madarame was until like, two weeks ago."
Kitagawa leans sideways, towards Takamaki, the sword strapped to his back knocks loudly against the floor. "You deceived me?" He questions, "To get to close to Madarame?"
Panther nods.
Kitagawa nods back, then goes limp. His head tilts backwards and Akira catches the bright blue of the artist's eyes.
"This place is made from Madarame's twisted desires." Morgana picks up in a whisper, stepping to Kitagawa's contorted form. "Anything that he desires strongly enough shows up in this place."
Kitagawa leans forward, away from him and back towards the painting, then glances down at Morgana. Even on his knees, the artist towers over him. "A talking cat..."
"I am-!" Morgana snaps, loudly, but cuts himself off to whisper harshly in Kitagawa's face. "I am not a cat!"
"Sensei's desires..." Kitagawa continues, as if Morgana hadn't said anything at all. The artist turns towards Panther, "You said I was framed here as well? I need to see this, then we may leave."
"'Then we may leave.'" Skull hisses quietly.
"You were the one who told him!" Panther whispers harshly towards Skull before turning back to Kitagawa, who's finally climbing to his feet. "We really should go, Kitagawa-kun.". Akira agrees. He casts a glance around the gallery, checking for shadows or guards; their absence fills him with dread instead of the relief he thought it might.
"Please." Kitagawa begs. "I need to understand. To see with my own eyes."
Panther gives in, so he does as well, and she leads the way across the gallery where Kitagawa's form is hanging on the wall.
With Kitagawa here, right in front of Madarame's image of the other boy, he's able to notice the differences between the painting and what Kitagawa actually looks like. Madarame's creation of the other artist is still as tall as he normally is, but the pale lines that make up Kitagawa's likeness are too far apart to look real. Kitagawa's skin cradles his frame sharply, his bones are sharp edges that Akira recognizes in himself. The boy in the picture is smiling as well, something he'd only just seen when it was soaked in blood; the Kitagawa in the picture would never laugh in his mentor's face.
"This is what he thinks of me?" Kitagawa asks himself, staring back at his likeness. "This is how sensei desires me?"
"Dude, wording!" Skull bellows, then clamps a hand over his own mouth with an audible slap. The blond continues, muffled by yellow fingers. "Can we go now?"
"Please, Kitagawa-kun." Panther asks, placing a hand on the artist's arm. "We can explain everything once we get to somewhere safe."
Kitagawa nods and moves when Panther pushes against him.
"I've never done anything like this before." Kitagawa eventually pants out while grappling himself towards the roof. It lingers for a while, as neither of his teammates say anything, and Akira, with his hands full of rope, can't respond. The other boy ascends the rope with surprising ease and only stumbles when he reaches the top, rolling onto the roof with a loud crash.
Below him, Skull sighs, but says nothing.
"It's beautiful." Akira catches while hoisting himself over the skylight's edge. After finding his footing, he looks over and finds Kitagawa and Panther by the roof's edge. Both of them are seated on the lip and Akira feels his tongue dry up in his mouth.
Thoughts of Suzui make him stumble where he's standing.
Someone- Ryuji, as he's the only one available to be behind him- places a hand on his shoulder. The weight threatens to buckle what's left of his integrity, but weighs him down as well, settling the bile churning low in his gut.
"'Kira, you okay?" The weight asks. He's not sure why.
Akira nods.
Skull retreats, patting him on the shoulder.
In truth, it felt like forever since he'd thought about Suzui, let alone witnessed what he had. Did he even have the right to have such reactions.
Takamaki seems fine. He notes; all of them seem fine. She's on the edge as well, sitting with Kitagawa. Both of them were unafraid.
"It looks better looking out than looking in, that's for sure." Panther finally replies. She laughs too.
With Kitagawa with them, it takes longer leaving the MetaVerse than it had entering it; the other boy stopping at various locations to observe part of his teacher's heart and question their meanings, but the darkness around them eventually shuddered into streets lit in fading sunlight.
Madarame's shack sat across from them and a set of unease set across his shoulders. In front of the dilapidated stone wall sat a number of belongings that hadn't been there before; three identical schoolbags were stacked beside a small, purple suitcase. Beside the suitcase sat a canvas he recognized only by the fingerprints that he knew were his.
"You really weren't joking." Sakamoto drawls, walking over and scooping their schoolbags from in front of the gate. Strolling back over, the blond hands both him and Takamaki one before scooping the last under his shoulder. Akira unzips his, offering it to Morgana.
The cat leaps into the opened folds, and rummages around with a loud crinkling noise before settling.
"I will admit, I didn't expect to be made to leave so quickly." Kitagawa admits, walking over as he'd done earlier to kneel in front of a canvas. Takamaki followed after him, standing close while the artist shrunk low to the ground, revealing the painting to him once more.
Akira turns away from it. "You think he can stay with you or something?" Sakamoto questions when he does.
He shakes his head more on instinct than anything. Sakura-san had been upset with him after bringing Morgana- Kaito- to the cafe, he's not sure how the older man would handle another person.
Ryuji sighs. The gust it makes pelts against hair and makes his ear tingle; Akira shudders despite the warm air. The other boy was really too close.
"My ma would probably say it's okay..." Sakamoto says, the hand hanging around his shoulder flips in circles. "But I dunno. She's workin' late an' would probably freak if she saw a weirdo like him in our apartment."
Akira remains still, unsure what to say to that or if any response at all was necessary.
"Still, worst thing is we shack him up with Ann." Ryuji laughs, squeezing the arm around his neck and pulling him closer. Akira is finally let go after a long moment of being pulled against the other and feels tension starting to drain out of him as the distance between them starts to grow.
"You really have no place to go?" He hears Takamaki ask, pulling his attention away from his own discomfort. The blonde is still standing next to Kitagawa, who's taken to leaning against the stone wall he's just been exiled from.
"Unfortunately, no." Kitagawa's deep voice responds. "Kosei offers such facilities in my scholarship, but since I was living with sensei, I hadn't filled out any of the necessary documents. I wonder now if that, too, will be taken from me, now that I'm no longer his pupil."
Ryuji steps forward with a sharp intake of breath, "Come on, dude. Nothing's gonna happen for you from just sitting out here, you look like a lost dog or something." The blond extends a hand to the artist, who stares at it with a frown. "We'll get you something to eat, then we can worry about your little problem."
Takamaki laughs, though Akira can't figure out why. "There's nothing little about being homeless, Ryuji. Er, that was insensitive of me, I'm sorry Kitagawa-kun."
Kitagawa shakes his head, making his dark hair messy against his forehead. "There's no need to worry, Takamaki-san. If anything, your bluntness has makes digesting the situation a little easier."
Takamaki head jerks back almost violently. "B-bluntness? Me? I am not blunt!" She stammers and insists.
Sakamoto laughs, bending over himself while he does. It's loud enough that Akira worries about Madarame- or maybe one of the neighbors- taking notice of them and calling the police.
"I am not blunt, Ryuji!" Takamaki says once more, shouting. She turns to him suddenly, "You don't think I'm blunt, right, Akira? Morgana?"
Underneath his shoulder, Morgana clears his throat. "N-not at all, Lady Ann."
"You're lying!" She snaps, pointing towards the cat and- he can't help but find- thankfully, ignoring him. Takamaki groans. "Anyways! Ryuji's right, we should go. We can try contacting the school or something on the way."
"A meal does sound nice." Kitagawa admits over her, pushing away from the wall of his old home. Suddenly, the artist towers over both Sakamoto and Takamaki.
"R-right." Takamaki says.
Without another word, the three of them start walking in the direction of the station and towards the setting sun, leaving him and Morgana behind for a moment before he remembers to follow after them.
"Do you have a favorite place to eat, Kitagawa-kun?" Takamaki broaches, "I think comfort food is the best for something like this."
"Comfort food?" Kitagawa repeats as the four of them step into the terminal. His messy hair shakes once more. "Sensei and I don't- didn't go out to many restaurants, I'm afraid. I have no idea what would be considered comfort food."
"Er, right." Takamaki says again. Sakamoto jumps into the conversation, leaning close to Kitagawa. "Ramen, for sure. Or maybe a meat bowl? Something with meat in it!"
"Hm? Yes, I suppose so." Kitagawa answers quietly, tugging his suitcase closer to him. "To be honest, though, I feel more tired than hungry at the moment."
Takamaki nods. "I felt the same way as well right after I got my persona."
"Ditto." Ryuji chimes in at the same time Kitagawa asks another question. "Persona?"
"We'll explain once we sit down somewhere." The blond assures, "Somewhere close by then?"
Close by, in Sakamoto's words, still requires a lot of walking. On the way, Akira feels himself starting to nod off several times, his body going limp for a moment as the world goes black, only to jerk back into standing once he feels himself starting to fall over.
The restaurant that Sakamoto leads them to is the same one that Iwai had taken him to. It was still dark, but clean, as it had been the last time he had come. The only difference was that he was feeling quite tired; the booth under him seemed to cradle him more than it had the last time and his back started to droop in on itself whereas it had refused to do so when Iwai had been here.
Akira folded his arms onto the tabletop and rested his head on top of them. This time it was just a restaurant, nothing more.
"Come on, man, don't do that." Ryuji's voice breaks through the blankness his mind had been building up. Something, a hand or maybe a shoe, presses at his arm and he knows that the other is talking to him. "You're gonna make me fall asleep, too."
The blond scoots in beside him. Akira forces himself to sit up before he does actually fall asleep. Takamaki scoots in next to Sakamoto and Akira pushes himself closer to the wall.
"Honestly," Takamaki starts, but interrupts herself with a yawn. "I feel the same way. Are we always gonna be so tired when we go there, Morgana?"
Underneath his arm, but mostly on his lap, Morgana stirs. "Due to how the MetaVerse functions, you'll probably feel the effects each time you come out; the strain on your spirit to project your rebellion is quite-" Morgana yawns as well. His teeth glow with a yellow sheen underneath the lights hanging over the table. "Taxing. It's like spending twice as much energy in the same amount of time."
"God, that sucks." Ryuji complains with a groan. His head falls onto his arms, mirroring what the blond had just scolded him for.
"It might get better the more we expose ourselves to it." Morgana yawns once again, sharp teeth on display with the smell of his breath. "But the best thing we can do now is rest between trips. If people start getting suspicious because you all look like walking corpses, then it can only spell bad news for the Phantom Thieves."
"Phantom Thieves?" Kitagawa repeats. The artist is sitting across from them, alone. The canvas from before is leaned against the booth next to him, his suit case is on the other side, trapping him from either end.
Next to him, Sakamoto perks up, making the seat bounce underneath him. "Y'know? The Phantom Thieves of Hearts?"
Kitagawa blinks slowly, then responds. "No. I don't think I have."
"It was on the news..." Sakamoto mutters. Takamaki takes over for him and Kitagawa turns to her when she starts talking. "Have you heard about anyone called Kamoshida? From Shujin Academy?"
Kitagawa nods. "The school teacher who confessed in front of the entire school. Yes, I've heard of him; is he somehow related to Sensei- Madarame?"
Takamaki nods, long hair bobbing forward. "Yes- well, sort of. Kamoshida only confessed what he did because of the Phantom Thieves."
"They made him confess?" Kitagawa questions. "How did they manage?"
"That world that you saw, and that version of Madrame that you saw. They're both real. Well, um, kind of real? Mostly real? It's like um-" She trails off.
Morgana half-climbs onto the table, leaving his lower paws to dig painfully into his thighs. "It's like an alternate reality. What we did was open a door into Madarame's heart and mind. Everything that's distorted him was in that museum that we were in. What phantom thieves do is infiltrate these cognitive worlds- we call them palaces- and destroy them by grabbing the core of the world, called treasures."
Kitagawa nods once more. "This would somehow cause Madarame to confess?"
Morgana nods back, his ears flicking backwards. "T-there is a possibility that the palace ruler might suffer a mental shutdown, however."
"Mental shutdown?" Kitagawa huffs, his face, cast in golden light, twists with a smile. He laughs quietly. "Sensei might become one of those?"
Kitagawa stands suddenly, then is bowing over the table. Akira jerks backwards as the artist's head almost comes into contact with Morgana's. "Then I'd ask to join you."
Sakamoto recovers first, "Y-you wanna join?"
Takamaki a hand forward, placing it on Kitagawa's folded back. "Even if Madarame were to die?"
The contact, or maybe the question, makes the artist slide back into his seat and stare back at them once more. "Don't misconstrue my intentions, Takamaki-san. I owe Madarame a great debt, regardless of how terrible he is; he took me in when there was no one, I cannot simply forget that in light of what I saw today."
Takamaki's hand, which had fallen onto the table when the artist retreated slides back into his lap.
"Yet," Kitagawa continues after a pause, "I believe what I saw today. Sensei has become corrupted. If those truly were his thoughts, it is undeniable. After the core of his desires were taken, would he revert to who he was before?"
"It's possible, but after we get the treasure, if that doesn't cause a mental breakdown, he'd likely to confess to everything he's done and might be imprisoned." Morgana explains. The mention of prison sends a chilly ripple up his spine.
"I'd still like to join." Kitagawa states.
Sakamoto turns to him. Takamaki leans down towards the table and stares at him as well. Finally, Morgana twists in his lap to catch his eye. "Joker?" The cat finally questions.
They're asking me? Is his first reaction before he remembered that he was the supposed leader.
"Joker?" Kitagawa ponders aloud.
Akira nods towards Morgana and his teammate turns back around. The other two follow his lead.
A weight sinks in his stomach, wondering if he'd end up regretting this. Kitagawa was powerful, his awakening had shown him that much, yet the other was still loyal to Madarame. It should make him suspicious or more worried, yet something about Kitagawa grasped something inside of him, the same invisible force that connected him with the other phantom thieves.
Blinking hard and with intention, Akira's field of vision shifted into vast shades of blue. Glancing down at his chest, he saw the same strands that had always been there.
He glances towards the boy across the table, but spots nothing. The two of them didn't share a connection, yet Akira still felt as though they might.
"You would have me?" Kitagawa questions again.
"Yep!" Sakamoto chirps. A hand crosses over Akira's shoulders, jostling him. The sudden weight shatters his concentration. "If he says it's alright, then it's alright."
"He didn't say anything." Kitagawa points out, staring right at him. Despite years of being the way he was, nobody- except for Sakura-san- had been that straightforward about it and Akira feels his face heat up under the sudden attention.
"He's different." Arsene articulates with a laugh.
"Uh, Akira-kun can't talk." Takamaki says for him, just like she had for the reporter in front of Madarame's shack.
"Oh, I see." Kitagawa replies, taking a hand to his chin. "That explains why my attempts at small talk failed so miserably."
Small talk? Akira's brain filters slowly. He couldn't recall Kitagawa ever talking to him directly, small talk or not.
"Er, anyways, just make sure you keep your phone charged, 'cause he'll be texting you if you're serious about being a phantom thief." Ryuji instructs, leaning forward to rest his chin on his arm.
"I'll be sure to do that."
"Now we just gotta find you a place to stay." Sakamoto continues with a yawn.
Akira yawns as well.
"Did you have any luck with the school?" Takamaki questions.
Kitagawa shakes his head, his floppy hair drops over his eyes. "There was no answer."
Through the space between Sakamoto's arm and chest, Akira catches Takamaki peering through. "D'you think he can stay with you, Akira-kun?"
Akira's about to shake his head when Morgana starts answering for him. "I'm not sure Boss will like that, Ann."
"Boss?" She questions next.
"Yeah, he's taking care of this guy." Morgana gestures towards him with a bob of his head, "But I dunno if he'll want any more animals around. He'd probably just rename him."
Sakamoto snorts, then asks, turning towards him. "Rename?"
"Yes!" Morgana shouts, "Boss tried to rename me and Joker didn't even say anything!"
Takamaki snorts as well. "W-well, what did he change your name to?"
Morgana sighs, then turns to glare at him. "Kaito." He says right into Akira's face.
"It's a little on the nose, don't you think?" Ryuji comments with a smile. Takamaki frowns, "You don't think he's suspicious about us, do you?"
"It was before we were officially phantom thieves, there's no way he could have known." Morgana explains.
Takamaki nods, "So that's out..." She sighs loudly, then groans. "Fine!"
"Fine?" Ryuji mutters, still turned towards him and not their speaking teammate.
"You can stay with me. Just for until you can get your school stuff handled, okay?"
"Okay." Kitagawa says with preamble.
"My parents should be home sometime next week. So no funny stuff!" She continues, picking up volume.
"I'm not one for jokes, Takamaki-san." The artist says calmly.
Ryuji snorts, still eyeing him instead of the others. Akira keeps his gaze on the table.
"Not like that!" She hisses violently. "Just don't try anything! And don't let anyone see you."
"I'll do my best." Kitagawa responds, still calm. "You have my utmost gratitude, Takamaki-san."
"Meeting over?" Sakamoto questions when the table falls silent.
Takamaki hums quietly, "Mhm."
"Good 'cause I'm dying. Tired and dying." Sakamoto yawns. Takamaki agrees quietly as Ryuji reaches over and presses a button on the table that Akira hadn't noticed before.
"Oh." Kitagawa says after the waitress is gone. "I didn't bring any money."
"I got it." Ryuji supplies, waving his free hand.
The food arrives quickly, much like it had the last time he'd been here. But, despite not ordering anything, a plate and bowl are pushed in front of him; a mistake somewhere.
"You were zonin' out." Sakamoto starts explaining, something in his reaction seems to have caught the other's attention. "So I ordered for ya. Hope you don't mind."
Akira shakes his head, still eyeing the food. He couldn't remember the last time he'd had anything to eat. The stress of dealing with Kitagawa and Madarame, as well as school, had made it slip his mind at some point.
Explains why I'm so exhausted. Akira thinks, casting a look down at Morgana, who'd slunk off of the table and onto his lap. The cat stared back at him, ocean blue eyes wide open in the table's dark underneath.
Feeling guilty, Akira starts feeding himself before offering anything to his teammate. Morgana continues watching the entire time in between moments of gorging himself on strips of meat.
Sakamoto ends up paying for both him and Kitagawa, as well as himself. It makes the food inside of him sink even further; his stomach cramps in rebellion and Akira offers his thanks as quickly as he can. The blond waves him off, though.
Takamaki and Kitagawa leave first. "We'll make sure the coast is clear." She promises, taking Kitagawa's painting, before leading the artist away.
Minutes pass before Sakamoto tells him that they can leave. "They're off the train, miss prez isn't lookin' for any of us; it's probably past her bedtime." He yawns.
Akira nods, gathering Morgana and his bag before following Sakamoto out of the restaurant, making sure to keep the cat hanging from his shoulder unseen from others. It was completely dark when they walked outside, yet the streets of Shibuya seemed even brighter than they had been before. Bright, multi-colored lights guided their silent walk towards the station.
"See ya tomorrow." The blond says quietly, throwing up a hand before disappearing into the sea of people.
Feeling heavy, Akira climbs onto the next train towards Yongen-Jaya and sinks into a seat with a sigh. The city passed through the windows in a shaky blur, a myriad of lights blinded him, then utter darkness seemed to envelop the train for a long time before it finally stopped in front of the Yongen station.
The streets of Yongen were lit up by dim yellow lights that seemed almost too dark compared to the place he'd just been. Akira's feet dragged through golden splashes until he finally pushed through LeBlanc's entrance, keying himself into the dark cafe. Sakura-san wasn't behind the counter, as far as he could tell and he was the only one in the building, aside from Morgana.
He drops the other onto the bed and tugs off his school blazer and shoes before climbing under the covers. With the last of his energy, Akira plugs his phone in and drops his glasses onto the closest shelf. His bag rustles noisily for a while as Morgana pulls himself out of it, then the cat is resting beside him just before he falls asleep.
The sound of water splashing against the ground wakes him up. It echoes into his ears and makes him aware of how cold it is. When he slides his feet over the edge of the bed, the floor rattles noisily. The floor is freezing and cold against his skin and makes him shiver. His ankle is even colder, almost painfully so, and heavy.
I'm back again. Akira notices vaguely, pushing hair away from his face.
"Trickster, you've come." Igor's voice ruminates deeply. Akira nods, unsure if the man can see him, and takes to his feet to approach the gate between them. "You've made contact with another palace. Good. I trust you are growing used to infiltrating them by now?"
Akira's unsure of that, but Igor smiles back at him from behind his desk, same as always. It makes him even more unsure. Was there something more he could be doing?
"Our services are always open to you, Trickster, so long as you hold steadfast to the responsibilities of your rehabilitation. But allow me to emphasize once more the importance of your bonds. The Phantom Thieves of Hearts, as you have so named yourselves, will be found lacking without the support of others. To go without them would be most detrimental." Igor's words sound more like a warning than advice, Chouno-sensei had sounded the same way, like there was a context Akira wasn't able to see properly and, therefore, not able to grasp fully.
Akira nods, feeling guilty.
Igor laughs and stands up. He's shorter than Akira is, slouching over himself with his chin sticking upwards. "Now, that's all I have to say to you, I believe, however, that your wardens would like a word with you." The man steps backwards, disappearing behind a door Akira had never noticed before.
The gate in front of him makes a sudden noise, like thunder, and Akira flinches backwards. Justine and Caroline slide in front of the cell door with matching expressions, their golden eyes staring up at him widely and unblinking. Akira lowers his own gaze, towards his bare feet and the chains coiling around them.
"I sense you've completed our task. The persona, Jack Frost, resides within you, does he not?" Justine questions.
"Oh ho!" Jack Frost says cheerfully from within, as if called upon by Justine.
"Call him forth, inmate!" Caroline orders.
Akira nods down at his feet, then exhales deeply, trying to concentrate against the cell's iciness. He sinks into himself, grasping at the same power that Arsene had awoken inside of him. He wades through the presences of the others, each of them reaches out, but flow past like river water. Jack Frost's presence is colder than the others, like grasping ice, and when Akira grabs onto him that chill pushes through him until it explodes outwards.
The persona appears with a burst of flame and glows with blue fire. "It is I!" Jack Frost greets him, blank, black eyes stare up at him.
Akira pushes himself off the ground, unsure when he'd fallen.
"He's smaller than usual." Justine notes quietly. Caroline continues, just as quietly, "Yeah, inmate, did you have to bring us such a weak specimen?"
Justine flicks over a page from her clipboard and begins writing. Her singular eye glances continuously between the papers in her hands and the persona in front of her.
Jack Frost remains still during the entire process and Akira does the same, standing behind the still fiery persona as Justine continues writing. The scratching of her pen on the paper, and the continuous sound of water dripping somewhere, are the only noises around, yet both are enough to keep him conscious and alert.
Something about the Velvet Room felt unusual today. The timeless place seemed darker, like it might be nighttime somewhere outside of the stone and metal walls. Igor's exit was also unusual. The previous- though few- times he'd been in this prison, the long-nosed man had never left from behind his desk; now he was nowhere to be seen.
"Still," Justine says suddenly with a smile, "Despite its weakness, you did accomplish the goal we set out for you."
"I guess so." Caroline comments before continuing for her twin and also adopting a smile, "For that, I think the inmate deserves some praise for finishing your penal labor. If you continue at this rate, you may actually complete your rehabilitation..."
Jack Frost turns away from the two wardens and stares up at him as well, drawing his attention. Akira has a hard time staring back into his dark eyes, "I-I'm not small, am I?" He questions.
Akira isn't sure how to answer, nor did he expect the persona to question him or even to experience such a thought. The other personas within him, with Arsene being the exception, remained constantly quiet, always a presence, but never human-like. It was surreal, staring down at something monstrous and having it ask questions.
Justine, or maybe Caroline, clears her throat. "As we were saying, in order to promote the progress of your rehabilitation, I believe it is necessary to offer you an additional facility within this place."
"Huh." Caroline huffs, "It's rare to see you smiling, Justine." She says with her own smile still in place.
Justine turns away from him and towards the other warden, "You are the smiling one, Justine, did something happen to make you so joyful?"
"Me?" She crows back. "I'm just... pleased, is all. With the inmate for completing his duty. That's all."
Justine nods back at the other warden, "Agreed. The inmate's progress thus far is quite impressive, perhaps he truly is worthy of our master's praise."
Caroline nods as well, mirroring the other, before turning back to him. "A-ahem, anyways, inmate..." She trails off. Justine turns to him as well and, like Caroline had done moments ago, picks up where the other had left off, "If you have the will to continue your penal labor, we will allow you greater freedom from within this prison. It will be a deal between us, the wardens, and you, the prisoner."
"It's going to be hard work from here on out, inmate!" Caroline barks from Justine's side.
"Are we in agreement?" Justine questions softly.
Hard work? Akira couldn't help but question. Everything, from gathering Jack Frost to getting into Madarame's locked room, had taken almost everything he had, even with the phantom thieves at his side. Igor's words struck back at him. He'd need others, to forge bonds, to avoid the nameless ruin and his still-mysterious imprisonment.
It felt almost like cheating, having them ask this of him. He hadn't been the one to reach out to either Justine or Caroline, yet they wanted to forge a deal with him, to be connected in the same way the others were.
Akira nods, slowly at first, then more firmly. He didn't have much of a choice, if Igor's warnings were to believed; he had no idea how much time he had to complete his rehabilitation or to escape the coming ruin, and he'd need the wardens help if he were to fix either situation.
The wardens, without looking at each other, nod in synchronization.
A sudden elation sparks through his core. Warmth seems to blaze through his blood for a moment, a feeling he'd had before with Sakamoto and Iwai. He knew, without activating his thief vision, that there would be a new cord connecting him with the wardens in front of him.
"Now, inmate," Justine commands, "Call forth two others personas and we will demonstrate the use of your reward."
Akira does as he's told, drawing into himself once more, pushing past the chill and new warmth, to feel the pull of his personas. One appears, standing tall with wings and dark skin, coated in blue flame just as Jack Frost was. Her mouth is covered with dark bindings, so she says nothing. The other, like the previous, has wings that expand to either wall of the cell, crowding it further.
Justine's eye flashes blue, then one by one, the three personas he'd summoned were blinked from his side of the cell to the other.
"Prepare the execution, Caroline." Justine orders softly.
Execution? Akira feels his stomach sink low. He'd only seen the process once before and the process had nearly made him sick. Akira turns away from the wardens and stares back at the cell's only furniture, a bed, and tries his best to filter out the noises from beyond.
Covering his ears does nothing to silence the sound of the falling guillotines. The blades fall swiftly, grinding against their frames, then crash heavily onto the ground below.
He tries his best not to imagine the scene behind him.
"This facility is called a triangle fusion, inmate, hence the need for three personas." Justine reveals. Her pen is scratching across paper once more. "The results are more varied and difficult to predict, but the new mask they forge for you will be much more powerful than the ones sacrificed."
"Assuming they accept you, of course!" Caroline jeers, sounding close. "And you can turn around now, inmate, the show's over."
Akira does as he's told, slowly shifting until he's facing the cell door once more. Caroline and Justine are standing just beyond it, both turned towards him with glowing, golden eyes. Both of their smiles are gone.
Beyond them, a figure is sheathed in blue fire, glowing brightly among the prisons dim walls. Its- he's not sure if its a male or female, but it's definitely not human- wings, made of fanning red feathers, spread wide over the chamber just outside of his cell. Its bird-like body sways slowly in the air just above Igor's desk, while its tail feathers dust against the darkened wood.
The persona stares down at him, its eyes seeming unnaturally still as it bobs through the air. Its eyes are beady and black, but quite large, and seem to glow blue under the light of the Velvet Room.
Its hums call out, sounding like birds he might hear back home, and echo through the chambers and off the walls. It makes the hairs on his neck stand on end and makes his ears vibrate harshly.
The chirping stops, drawing his attention to the sound of its wings beating heavily against the air as it swoops down towards him.
Akira flinches backwards, unprepared and unequipped for a fight, and falls back onto the floor. He watches as the massive bird flies straight towards him.
The cage's door, which would have stopped a normal bird, does nothing to impede the persona's flight. He's not sure what exactly happens, as his vision fills with blindingly red feathers as the bird seems to phase through the cell door and straight into him.
Justine's mouth opens to say something, but he doesn't hear anything she says over the voice that sound suddenly in his head.
"I am thou. I am Phoenix. Thou art I. Thou art my master. For now." A new voice says, sounding neither like a man or a woman, it's voice too choppy for him to make any distinctions.
Akira lets out a breath. Tightness seeps from his shoulders as the swelling panic dies down. The new persona- Pheonix- carves its way through his mind like a new river being forged, and finally settles. He waits for everything to turn quiet before he finally stands back up and faces his wardens.
"It seems to have accepted you." Justine observes.
Akira nods back in her direction, still feeling shaky.
"You must be stronger than I thought, inmate." Caroline comments, also unsmiling.
"Your next task will be..." Justine entreats, flipping through pages on her clipboard and finally tears one off. It's a yellowed page, nearly identical to the one he'd been given last time, and folded into a crisp square. "Shiisaa. But, unlike our last request, this persona must have the aptitude for nuclear abilities."
Nuclear? He doesn't get the chance to get question what that might mean before he's being thrown out of the Velvet Room, his consciousness, like a switch, flickers to a blank nothingness before he's able to recognize the shift.
Akira wakes up to the sound of rain and the smell of coffee. His stomach is warm- hot- and his bladder is painfully full. Above all of those things, he feels exhausted, like he hadn't slept at all.
He rolls to his side, sending Morgana toppling off of him as he slides over the edge of the bed; a sense of deju vu washes over him as he does this, and he finds himself adjusting to a non-existent weight around his ankle. His hands move easier than they feel they should and he nearly slaps himself in the face when he starts washing himself.
The water doesn't help ease the exhaustion, nor does it wash away the events he'd just- or maybe it had been hours ago- heard in the Velvet Room and in Madarame's palace, but he does feel slightly cleaner, which is a start.
Phoenix coos softly inside of him, startling him at first and making him look around the cafe's bathroom for a stray bird.
"Ugh." Arsene says simply, before fading back into a more muted presence.
Akira says nothing and doesn't reach out to either of them. Instead, he wipes his face dry and heads back upstairs.
Morgana's lower half is sticking out of his schoolbag, which hadn't made it onto the floor since yesterday. Small piles of money are scattered outside of the bag's entrance, making a mess on the bed and floor, but he sees even more still folded and crumpled inside of it. Bills that hadn't been there yesterday when they'd infiltrated Madarame's palace.
It was possible that he hadn't noticed it until Morgana had brought it to his attention, he hadn't had a reason to open the zipper aside from letting his teammate in and out.
Akira didn't notice a lot of things it seems.
Glancing towards the staircase, Akira approaches the bed and tugs Morgana out of the bag.
"H-hey!" The cat whines, which is muffled by the sound of money splashing down on the bed as he tips the bag over, alongside the multitude of notes is a folded up, yellowed piece of paper.
Wow. Is his first reaction. Panic sets in quickly though, chasing after his amazement.
Gesturing towards the money, he asks, "Where?" Before realizes what he's doing. Morgana stares back at him as he reaches towards his phone to reiterate his question.
His teammate smiles up at him, "From Madarame's palace, of course! While you three were dealing with the newbie, I took the liberty of acquiring the bounties the shadows dropped."
Madarame's money then. Or copies of it, at least. A lot of it at that.
Checking the time, Akira knew that they wouldn't have time to go through it all right now before he needed to catch the train, maybe even less if Sakura-san decided to come up here for some reason. Instead, he hastily smoothed the stack into a single pile- which was still impressive to him- and shoved it under the bed with the rest of his contraband.
Akira made sure to check his bag once more, ensuring that there was enough room for both Morgana and his school things, before he tugged his shoes back on and reattached his suspenders and blazer.
During school, then lunch, he debated on texting Kitagawa-san and the others. The exhibit would be closing soon, and, if Morgana were to be believed, their opportunity would disappear just as quickly.
Logically, there was a balance to be maintained. Like Morgana had said, if he, and the other phantom thieves, showed up to school as tired looking as he thought he might, there was a possibility that they'd all be questioned and caught. On the other hand, the sooner that Madarame was dealt with, the sooner their lives would return to normal.
Kitagawa-san would leave, lodging at his school, surrounded by other artists. He'd quit being a phantom thief and might even forget that they existed at all. Madarame would confess his sins or- Akira shudders- the artist would turn into the thing Morgana had warned them about.
Akira would... What would he do? Madarame had all but presented himself in front of him, a coincidence that had sparked their investigation. It wasn't likely to happen again; especially if he quit falling asleep in public places.
There was still the ruin to worry about as well. A reckoning that was somehow related to the MetaVerse.
Akira returns to LeBlanc without speaking to either Takamaki or Sakamoto. He eats dinner- something he reminds himself to do- with Sakura-san standing on the other side of the counter, washes himself off at the bathhouse across the street, and returns to the attic, and to sleep with Morgana tinkering on the desk in the corner.
As soon as he wakes up, Akira grabs onto his cell phone, careful not to throw Morgana off like he'd done the morning before, and starts composing a message to his teammates, as well as Kitagawa-san.
"After school today?" He proposes, wondering if Morgana would have phrased it differently and, if so, how. Akira holds the device close, though, concealing it from the other.
"Works for me." Takamaki.
"I'll be like 30 minutes late. Don't start without me!" Sakamoto.
"Of course." Kitagawa-san, who had been added sometime in the two days since he'd joined their group without him noticing; the news came with a bit of relief, as he wouldn't need to talk to Kitagawa-san directly right after he'd gotten the artist thrown out of his home.
School passes quickly, things seemingly back to normal, with him being ignored; nobody stops him on his way down from the roof, no teachers offering him strange stories, and no teammates to share his time with, aside from Morgana, who disappears into his bag as soon as the final bell rings; Akira's not sure how the cat knows what time it is without seeing the time, but he appreciates the speed in which Morgana moves.
Mishima waves at him while he's exiting their shared class; Akira isn't sure why. He waves back as well and the other boy smiles at him, which is also confusing, but not something he can dwell on, at least for now. Moving with the corridor's traffic, which makes him feel simultaneously too fast and too slow, Akira navigates away from Shujin and towards the station, doing his best to remain unnoticed as he finds his way towards Madarame's shack for the second time that week.
Akira leans against the wall across the street from Madarame's, pressing himself against the crumbling stone the same way he'd seen others do; it was meant to look casual, but it felt anything but. The wall's uneven texture was rough against his back and was probably scratching up his uniform, but he maintained it until Takamaki showed up. Kitagawa was following her, just like he had been the last time he'd seen them.
"Ryuji's still not here?" Takamaki questions, pushing herself onto the wall beside him.
Akira shakes his head.
She huffs, "Darn. I even wasted some time getting Yusuke another lunch."
Yusuke? Akira parrots. Did they know a Yusuke?
"I can assure, Kurusu-san, Takamaki-san, there's never a waste on a second meal." Kitagawa starts.
Oh. He realizes, feeling rather stupid. Kitagawa's first name was Yusuke.
Takamaki sighs, turning towards him. Akira turns away, looking towards the shack. "He started sketching one of the displays at the mall. Then, after I finally got him to stop doing that, he started reading the ingredients on each one!" She informs him quietly.
"Maintaining a proper diet is imperative, especially if- as phantom thieves- we're to be doing-" Takamaki shushes him quickly, "Don't say it like that!"
"Like that?" Kitagawa echoes.
"Don't mention the Phantom Thieves out loud, someone could be listening or something." She instructs.
"I suppose so." Kitagawa agrees. "The legality of such activities seem quite questionable."
"Not to mention the stalker." Morgana forwards, leaping onto the ground.
"Stalker?"
"We don't know if she's actually suspicious about... what we're doing, but she has been following me around after school. I've seen her a few times at some of my photo-shoots. I'm pretty sure she fell asleep, though." Takamaki expands between sips of water.
"Photo-shoots?" Kitagawa plucks out, stepping closer.
"Oh, yeah." She says, "I model sometimes. Mostly for magazines my parents work with, nothing like, big."
"That's very commendable, Takamaki-san." Kitagawa praises, "I suppose I'll need to find employment as well."
"I thought you said you worked things out with your school?"
Kitagawa hums, "I did; they're offering me free room, but they're unable to offer me boarding until next year."
"Aren't those the same thing, though?" Takamaki questions.
"I was under the same impression." Kitagawa admits. "Unfortunately, I'll be in charge of providing my own meals and supplies for the remainder of the year."
"But you're homeless!" Morgana rebuffs loudly.
"Homeless? Yes, I suppose so. Hence the need for employment." Kitagawa answers.
"Employment?" Another voice suddenly speaks up. "You lookin' for a job already?" Akira looks over, towards his teammates and finds Sakamoto walking towards them.
"Indeed." Kitagawa responds.
"I never thought about how expensive art stuff would be." Takamaki admits, "Not to mention cooking for yourself everyday." Akira had never thought about it either. Thinking back to when he'd been inside of Madarame's shack, and Kitagawa's studio, there'd been hundreds of brushes, paints, and other supplies he didn't know the name of. He had no idea how much any of that might cost.
"Also, Ryuji, where were you? You said you were only gonna be thirty minutes!"
"We ready?" Sakamoto proposes instead of answers, dropping to lean one shoulder against the wall hiding them from Madarame's shack. The blond has his phone in one hand and his school bag in the other.
"Ready!" Morgana confirms. Without warning, the air suddenly shifts, gathering weight. The sunlight that had been warming his skin is abruptly cut off, leaving him shivering slightly in the confines of his extending clothes.
Beside him, his teammates stand in their changed outfits, Kitagawa is among them and Akira gets his first look at the artist's reflection of rebellion; a white mask hung over most of the tall teen's face, not unlike Takamaki's, concealing everything but his strangely blue eyes. It was painted on with red ink that seemed to contract and expand oddly, but formed the straight, sharp lines- excluding the curled mounds at the top which formed ears- of a fox's face. A high-collared jacket covered most of the artist's neck in white material, but hung open, unzipped down the majority of his chest, exposing sunken pale skin that seemed to shine against the dark color that the jacket faded into. A striped cloth hung under Kitagawa's waist, resembling an obi belt that Madarame's shadow had worn, only darker, which led to an animal's tail that hung from his backside; it was white with a bright red ribbon twisting towards it end. The appendage seemed to sway back and forth, despite the lack of wind and Kitagawa's stillness.
The artist looked quite odd is what Akira thought of the other. Which is something that could be said for him as well, or any of them.
"Oh, yeah." Morgana says suddenly, stepping in front of the artist. The cat, even in this form, was only as tall as Kitagawa's bright white boots. "We haven't decided on the newbie's code name yet!"
"Code name?" Kitagawa questions, but is drowned out by Panther's proclamation. "It has to be Kitsune! With the mask and everything."
"Hell yeah!" Skull agrees, "That really leaves an impression."
"Oh, are you two talking about me?" Kitagawa resumes, pushing back his mask.
"Er, I guess I didn't explain that part either." Panther admits with a laugh, "Remember how I told you not to mention being a phantom thief, when we're in public? Well, Morgana said that, when we enter palaces, we're going into their unconscious-" Mona interrupts, "Subconscious, Panther."
"Right..." She stumbles, "Since the palace is the subconscious of that person, they'll be able to like, hear us, or be aware of things we say and do. So anyways, we use code names so they don't get suspicious about who the Phantom Thieves of Hearts are. Does that make sense?"
Kitagawa nods, "Many artists do the same to avoid negative criticism on their more controversial pieces."
"D'you gotta suggestions for yours, then?" Skull asks, drawing forward until they've formed a small circle.
"Hm." Kitagawa hums slowly. "I'd say 'Da Vinci'."
Da Vinci? Akira questions silently. Arsene huffs quietly, his presence feeling offended- or something similar- but comments nothing, which leaves him feeling confused.
"Da Vinci? Like that one artist?" Panther clarifies.
"Indeed." Kitagawa says.
"Uh, nope." Skull shoots down.
"Then I have no other suggestions." Kitagawa concedes.
"Well, you've got that mask, like Panther said, and the weird tail-thingy." Skull critiques. The blond snaps his fingers together and declares, "I got it! You'll be 'Abura-age'!"
Tofu? Akira's uncertain how the name came to be. Morgana sniffs at the suggestion.
"Very well." Kitagawa agrees.
"What!?" Panther exclaims loudly. "Nuh-uh. No-no-no! You are not naming him after a food."
Skull groans, "Why not? He looks like a walking festival!"
Panther turns to him suddenly, "Joker's the leader, he should decide!" She proclaims, suddenly dragging him into the conversation.
Neither sign would be easy for him, and it seemed that Kitagawa didn't have much preference, so Akira was left unsure what to choose.
"What about Fox?" Mona suggests, tugging on Kitagawa's tail.
"It's a little on the nose, don't you think, Mona?" Panther questions doubtfully. Skull nods, "It's not as cool as Kitsune, either."
"We're not here to be cool!" Mona chides before turning towards him, just as Takamaki had. "What do you think, Joker? Fox or should we just call him 'Tofu Boy'?"
"It's fried tofu!" Skull interjects, "Fried!"
Fox, unlike the other suggestions, would be easy to sign- though he doubted that Morgana knew that- and sounded similar enough to the other phantom thieves' nicknames, except for maybe his own, to not sound unusual in the palace's cognition; he assumes so at least.
"Fox." Akira nods, signing; looping his dark-red fingers close to his nose then tugging outward.
"Is that how you say Abura-age?" Skull questions, mimicking him.
"It's obviously Kitsune." Panther observes.
Akira drops his hand away from his face, then shakes his head.
"Fox then?" Morgana queries. Akira nods quickly. He has his phone, he's not sure why he doesn't use it.
"Fox then." Panther repeats. "I guess that's okay."
"Yeah, I guess." Skull concedes as well. "It'll be less confusing anyways."
Morgana turns away from him, "Welcome to the team, Fox." He greets, bowing slightly.
"Fox?" Kitagawa hums. "Franz Marc once described them as fierce and fiery."
"Kind of ironic, huh?" Panther admits with a laugh.
"Yes, I concur, Takamaki- um, what should I refer to you all as, since I'm now The Fox." The artist questions, tugging at his own tail.
"Skull- obviously." Panther introduces, pointing towards the blond. "I'm Panther; then Mona, and finally, Joker." She says, gesturing towards him.
"Joker?" Kitagawa- Fox- questions.
"It's 'cause he can summon different personas." Skull explains for him.
"Fascinating..." Kitagawa stares directly at him. "When I... awoken to this power, it seemed as though I was unlocking another part of myself; becoming whole in a way I'd thought not possible until it occurred, but multiple? Your heart must be boundless."
Akira's not sure, exactly, what Fox is expressing, but the artist's direct attention and lessening distance between them makes his face warm and his palms sweaty; nobody- except for maybe Morgana- had looked at him so intensely and it was more than a little uncomfortable, especially since he had no idea what to say in response.
"I knew my intuition led me in the right direction. Though it wasn't your body calling out to me, but your very core!" Fox announces loudly. The artist was close enough that his voice hurt his ears.
"Anyways!" Skull interjects suddenly, tugging on Fox's shoulder. "We got shit to do, so stop bein' creepy and let's take this bitch down."
"Don't speak about-!" Fox cuts himself off, "Mayhaps you've a point. Our energies are being wasted- doubly so- by talking. I still owe sensei my life, but, as you say, Skull, this bitch need be taken down."
"Right..." Skull drawls. Behind him, Takamaki laughs.
Fox, despite being much taller than all of them, is just as agile and just as fast, keeping close to him as they finally navigate past the stony gate of Madarame's palace. The five of them rappel down from the skylight and into the galleries that had drawn Kitagawa's attention when they were retreating last time; now, the artist seemed ignore them, ducking past beams of light and seeming to ignore their surroundings altogether.
As they advance, more guards seem to appear, the shadows lurking in places they hadn't the previous times they'd been through the same halls; they seemed to react to Kitagawa's presence more than their other teammates, taunting the artist, they also seemed to react more to his persona as well, their entire bodies frozen- and subsequently shattered- by Kitagawa's persona with apparent ease.
Akira led the others through the expanding corridor, like the last time he'd navigated through it, the opening doors seemed like they would never end, depicting the same mural repeatedly until finally, they were standing in an open area. The sign that had spoken of Madarame's security was still standing, but the laser grid that had been lying just beyond was absent, allowing them to walk through with ease.
A thought strikes him as he approaches the door that they'd risked a lot in opening. Never- not even once, he thinks- did he consider what might lie beyond; the treasure, obviously, was one of them, but he'd never considered anything but that. Any number of things could have been in that locked storage room. Akira is reminded of Kamoshida's own hidden room and the things that he'd seen in it. If he'd seen anything like that and not a bunch of identical- though harmless- paintings, would he have reacted as quickly to Morgana's distraction?
Part of him is doubtful. Kamoshida's secret had shocked him enough to make him sick, yet he hadn't even thought about the horrible things he might find snooping in Madarame's actual house. It was yet more proof that he wasn't a leader, certainly not one that Morgana envisioned him to be, that the Phantom Thieves would need.
"The security room's over there." Skull offers, standing close and pointing towards a small door he wouldn't have noticed otherwise, it was golden, just like the walls and everything else, and blended in because of it.
Akira nods towards his teammate and stalks forward. The security room's interior is exposed by a large window beside the unnoticeable door; peering inside, he sees a number of shadows and quickly ducks his head away from it before continuing forwards.
Past the security room is a large room, not unlike the one that Fox had awoken to his persona in. It's ceiling went straight upwards, gold turning into impenetrable darkness. A large statue stands tall in the center of the room, surrounded by sharp, golden staircases; unlike the previous statue, this one held a definite shape, a singular figure, but was entire golden like the previous one had been.
It was Madarame's likeness. As if magnified, the old artist stoops impossibly tall in front of them, completely golden where his face and skin had once been white; his yukata swoops around him, frozen and gilded.
"Sensei..." Fox whispers lowly, staring up at the statue. The artist turns away from the statue, so Akira does as well, leading the group up the stairs beside the statue.
The stairwell leads up to another open corridor. A rack stands to one side, the only piece of furniture in the unlit space.
"It's another map." Mona observes, plucking one from the lowest shelf and tugging it open. Akira kneels by his teammate and glances over his shoulder one way, then the other, before finally looking down at the unfolded map; it was different than the one in his pocket, as there was no entrance or exit.
"It says 'two out of two'." Mona points out, tapping at one corner of the parchment.
"So the treasure should be somewhere on this one then, Mona?" Panther questions, crouching next to the cat, who nods in response. "If I had to take a guess, it would be in the most secluded and heavily guarded area." His paw smooths over the paper slowly, then taps at one of the rooms on the map, a singular hallway that was the farthest from their current location.
"We'll need to pass through these other rooms to get to there, then." Fox rejoins, crouching beside him. "But there, up ahead, these areas-" Blue fingers cut across gaps in the map, "Seemed to be closed off. We'll need to find a way to open them."
"Or a way around." Panther voices, her own gloves joining on the parchment to navigate a path. "If we go around..." She flips the map over suddenly, then back again, "There's no stairs though!"
"Stairs?" Skull questions. Takamaki nods, blonde hair flopping over the map. "See, where Mona pointed out, there should be stairs that lead into this hallway, right before that last room, but there's no other stairs leading up there."
"Maybe the map is all fucky." Skull suggests, sweeping his hand at the map.
"That does make some sense." Mona concedes, "There's no customers up here, so maybe the map isn't accurate. It's also possible that palace has grown since the map was made."
"Grow?" Panther questions.
Mona nods, "Some parts of the palace form before other parts. It's like in Mementos, how some shadows have their own miniature palaces before they form into actual ones; if the distortion were to grow stronger over time, other parts of the palace might not match up. For example, if Madarame's desires were to sudden shift in one direction, the outer parts of the palace would mirror them, but the parts of the palace that were already formed wouldn't change at all."
"So if Madarame stopped liking gold so much, the top floor wouldn't be gold then?" Skull replies.
Morgana nods, "That's exactly right."
"You seem very knowledgeable about the ongoings of sensei's heart, Mona." Kitagawa states.
"All palaces, not just Madarame's, stem from the same thing: twisted desires, and they tend to respond similarly." The cat explains, "At least from what I remember, anyway..."
Mona pulls the map out from under their teammates' hands and folds it up before handing it to him. Akira slides it into his pocket along side the other map. Silently, they continue, sneaking past the sealed doorways and into a dimly lit hallway; one path is cut off with a set of lasers, beams of red piercing through the walkway from almost every angle. It would be impossible to slide under or jump over the trap. The opposite way opened up into a large gallery that was sectioned off with golden partitions and sets of laser traps between them, which would make navigation difficult, but not impossible.
Slowly, Akira ducks under one set, then takes cover near a wall, hearing the sound of unfamiliar footsteps. Seconds later, a guard passes by without noticing him or his teammates. Leading through the rest of the room is much of same, but the other end doesn't have a door or even a vent. Akira leads them back through, doing his best to avoid the guards, yet nothing comes of it; the maze-like room has nothing in it.
With a sigh, Akira presses himself against the wall to avoid detection from an approaching shadow, but he either misjudged the distance between himself and the wall or the wall disappeared, as Akira finds himself falling. He hits the ground just as Madarame's voice starts calling out; he'd just gotten them caught!
"How dare you trample onto my tranquil bamboo garden with those grimy feet! You shall not leave here alive!" The artist threatens from everywhere at once.
Bamboo garden? He thinks, dazed.
"Was that Madarame?" Skull questions. Mona hums, "I think it was just one of his thoughts, he doesn't seem to be around anywhere."
Akira opens his eyes and finds himself staring out into the room he'd just been in.
"I'm... inside of a painting." Fox reveals. The artist's arms whip out, nearly smacking both Panther and Skull with them as he spins.
"Watch it!" Skull warns, leaning down in front of him. The blond extends a hand and Akira finds himself being pulled to his feet when he takes it. "Magic paintings, huh?" The other boy drawls from beside him, then snorts, his exposed lips slowly stretch into a smile. "I mean, nice find, but you totally busted ass, dude!"
Sakamoto laughs at him.
"We should continue." Mona advises. "It looks like this painting has a path, it might lead closer to the treasure." Akira follows his teammate's gaze, past a wave of bamboo stalks, which seem to sway without wind, and spots the path the other had mentioned; the path ends in a wave of fog that doesn't seem to end, when he pushes his hand in it, there's nothing solid behind it, yet when he walks through it, another landscape is just beyond it, looking the same as the place they'd just come from. Tall mountains, round and brown stand at eye level, bamboo shoots taper impossibly upwards, and a path continues leading them forwards. Akira follows it, unsure what other options were open to them at this point.
The path ends abruptly with no more fog to walk through. Outside of the painting, though Akira's not sure how it's possible, is a ledge, one that overlooks the gallery they'd just been lost in. Stepping forward, Akira feels himself being ripped away from the painting, a sensation that's similar to entering the MetaVerse, though not as extreme, washes over him as he steps onto the ledge.
"Woah!" Panther whispers. "We didn't just walk through one painting! Look, there's a bunch of them- we started down there and we ended up here."
"I wonder if all the paintings are like that." Mona says quietly.
"That was not how I imagined walking through a painting would be." Fox informs, stepping out of the canvas. Skull is just behind him, "You've thought about walking in paintings before?"
"Of course." The artist says; Sakamoto mimics him, pulling a face. "I thought everyone held the desire to walk, at least once, through a painting."
Fox continues talking, Akira's not exactly sure what the other boy is saying, as they sneak along the edge of the oddly positioned balcony- the only way in or out is either through the painting they'd just stepped out of or a small vent in the opposite corner- his voice echoes through the small vent's passage, though he can only make out a few words at a time over the sound of the metal around them creaking and groaning noisily under their weight and movement.
The shaft leads into an open room that splits into two paths. One door is locked from the inside- where they're currently standing- and is quickly unlocked with a push of a nearby button. It opens to reveal the path they'd already taken. The gates that were blocking the walkways, as well as the lasers, were deactivated.
"A shortcut!" Panther exclaims then, more quietly, "This place is designed so weird."
Turning back around, Akira starts headed towards the other walkway, but stops in his tracks when a shadow drops into view; it's entire form seems to pulse with uncomfortable energy, but it doesn't seem to take notice of them at all.
"Careful!" Skull says, tugging on his shoulder. "Panther and I saw that kinda shadow when we were openin' the security room."
"So you think it's guarding something important then?" Mona questions.
"It's posture would indicate as such." Fox comments from behind. "Something important must lay beyond him."
"The last one was a real pain in the ass." Skull recounts. "But it should be pretty easy with all five of us."
Mona steps forward, "Just remember to stay coordinated. We'll only end up hurting ourselves if we end up tripping over each other."
Akira nods back at his teammate, who unsheathes his sword.
"Halt!" The guard commands with a growl. "This area is strictly off-limits for customers under Lord Madarame's orders!"
"Customers?" Fox questions quietly. Skull stomps his foot, leaning into the guard's masked face. "We ain't customers, now get outta the way!"
The guard's form shudders and shimmers like liquid and remains standing until it finally explodes, sending bits of its ruined clothing around as it expands suddenly. The shadow stretches tall and brightly white, its pointed head, which is made of paper, brushes against the museum's ceiling; the thing stares down at all of them, somehow alive despite being nothing more than paper.
Its hand sweeps forward, sounding like paper flapping in the wind, and shoots out a red smoke from its folded fingers. Akira manages to dodge it, pushing himself backwards as he concentrates on summoning a persona. Skull and Fox, however, aren't fast enough to evade the attack and start to cough as they inhale the oddly colored smoke.
Both boys recover quickly, then, in sync, they dash forward with their weapons drawn and nearly kill the other as they swing at the shadow; both of their weapons gleam over each other's heads, somehow avoiding colliding or injuring one another.
All the same, Akira feels his stomach start to drop and calls forth Arsene. His other half sparks to life behind him and with a snap, bolts of blackened fire shoot towards the shadow's form, the attacks catch onto the edge of the enemy's torso, far above either Fox's or Skull's reach.
The two weapons swing forwards again, once again nearly colliding and hitting the other as they attack the same leg.
"Be careful!" Panther shouts over the roar of flame and steel. "Ryuji!" She hollers.
"It's no good, Panther, whatever they got hit with is making them go berserk!" Mona yells back at her.
The incident in Mementos springs back to mind and Akira's unsure what to do about it; the faster they took down the shadow the better, but the constant onslaught from Skull and Fox doesn't seem to be doing anything. The shadow doesn't even seem to notice them there.
Takamaki shoots another ball of fire at the shadow's mid-section, which burns through it, revealing the wall beyond it and nothing else.
"Try aiming for the head!" Mona orders. Flame flickers through the air brightly, spluttering, smoldering ash rains down from the shadow's face, but it still remains standing, and reels back its fist once again, the same red smoke from before materializes from nothing and shoots towards them.
Once again, the three of them manage to duck away from the attack.
Akira sighs deeply, trying to maintain control as he sinks within himself once more. Pheonix answers his call, thundering to life as Arsene sinks back into him. The massive bird floats above him, creating gusts of wind that make his hair and clothes rustle constantly. A chill breaks out across his skin as he orders his persona forward.
A massive well of flame builds up, creating a blinding light that suddenly shoots forward. Takamaki's own flame flies with it and, together, the energy spears forward, colliding with the shadow's form and toppling it over; Akira rushes forward and Phoenix follows, trilling above him.
Help them. Akira orders- pleads- both of himself and his persona. He manages to grab onto Kitagawa's tail and yanks the artist back as hard as he can, hoping that the accessory was sturdy.
He doesn't manage to reach Skull, who's suddenly lost behind a blinding white light. His eyes are forced closed and Akira's unsure if the other boy is alright, if he, himself, is alright.
"Ryuji?" Panther calls out. Her voice is painful to hear past the ringing in his ears, her form hard to look towards when his eyes burn, but the blonde appears in front of him and rushes past him.
Kitagawa holds him up, the artist's bright blue gloves peering into his vision from underneath his arms; somehow, in protecting him, he'd managed to fall into the other's arms.
"Ryuji!?" Calls out again. Akira pushes his feet under himself. They feel wobbly, but he manages to step forward, where Panther is kneeling beside Skull's crouched form, his arms are wrapped around his knees, with his head tucked low between them.
"I'm not dead, am I?" Skull's voice comes out from his balled up form. Takamaki shoves him, making him fall over. "What the hell!" Skull shouts, his mask is missing from his face and is, instead, on the floor several meters away, gleaming brightly on the floor; Akira moves forward to retrieve it.
"You and Yusuke went totally berserk and nearly took each other's head off!" Panther shouts. It sounds like she hits him again, though Akira isn't sure. "Why are you guys so stupid!"
"We got 'em, didn't we?" Skull snaps. "An' h-hey, quit hitting me or I'm actually gonna die- or at least hit him too!"
"Ugh." Panther groans. Akira bends down and scoops up Skull's mask. It's surprisingly heavy. Twisting it around in his hands, he delivers it back to the other boy, who smiles up at him, bare-faced.
"Thanks, I was wonderin' where this thing flew off to."
Fox steps forward, "What happened just now?" The artist questions, looking towards Takamaki.
"You two seemed to be hit with some kind of mind-altering spell of some sort." Mona explains, "You both rushed towards the shadow and started attacking it."
"Damnit!" Skull seethes, punching down at the tiles under him. "I lost control again!?" Suddenly the blond is looking directly at him. "I didn't do nothin' right?"
Akira shakes his head quickly. It was the right response, yet he felt like he should say something more- something a leader might- to quell the blond's frustration.
"That's somethin', I guess." Skull mutters quietly, finally pushing himself to his feet.
"And then what happened?" Fox questions. Panther sighs, "Then Akira- er, Joker, brought out another persona, and we blew up the shadow, somehow."
"Blew it up?" The artist questions at the same time Skull does, "Forreal?"
"Uh-huh." She confirms, "Why do you think I was worried about you two idiots? That explosion was huge, I thought I was gonna get hurt by it, but Joker managed to pull you back, I'm not sure how all of you ended up uninjured."
"We won't always be as lucky." Mona intimates softly. "You all need to be more careful!"
"Maybe we should go home for today?" Panther suggests, pushing her mask away.
"But the treasure is so close! I can smell it just beyond that room!" The cat exclaims, pointing towards the door the shadow had been standing in front of.
Is it really so close? Akira can't help but wonder. He felt drained, yet knowing the end was close excited him.
