Chapter 29
Akira steps forward, taking in a deep breath, and tries to attune to the same sense that Morgana seemed to have; he expands his presence, trying to see the treasure that the other assured was close. He felt something, but he couldn't tell if it was the treasure. Everything seemed to radiate with energy, reaching out to him, other things radiated with a iciness, wanting to hide; he couldn't remember which feeling Kamoshida's treasure had.
What calls him forward feels like another presence, not dissimilar to a persona, but different somehow. Inexplicably so. Kneeling down, Akira swipes away the ashes of the shadow they'd just destroyed and wraps his fingers around a thin object.
Bringing it closer to his face, the thing- definitely not Madarame's treasure- is about as large as a playing card, only made of some type of glass. When he lifts it up, he can see through it, but everything on the other side is wavy and distorted. Aside from the unusual- but unreadable- script on either side of it, it's unremarkable in almost every way. Yet it thrums with something- energy, magic, the MetaVerse itself, he doesn't have a clue- and it calls out to him.
Carefully, Akira tucks the thing into his pocket, along with the slightly burnt money that the shadow had dropped.
"Nothin' good, huh?" Skull says from in front of him. The blond is bent over, the silver of his mask level with Akira's own. "You got a weird look on your face, 's how I figured."
Akira shrugs and pushes himself to his feet- ignoring how much energy it seems to take. The others are already ahead of him, with Panther and Mona peering into the windowed wall the shadow had been standing in front of. Fox is standing of to the side, peering down a hallway they hadn't been down before. The artist's mouth is moving quickly, making his mask sway slightly, but Akira can't make out what he's saying.
"Come on." Skull says, speeding up to walk in front of him. "There should be a button to open the door. Or that's how it was with the other one."
He follows after his teammate. Like the blond had said, the door slid open with a simple button press. The room in front of them was golden like every other, but had numerous screens on the walls and tables, revealing other golden rooms they'd been in, as well as some that Akira can't remember seeing before.
Skull stalks forward and drops down into a chair in front of one of the desks.
"Oh wow." Panther says, drawing his attention towards the door as she steps through it. "D'you think the treasure will show up on one of these monitors?" She steps further into the room, her gaze filters through each of the screens.
"It's quite likely." Mona answers, stepping inside as well.
Akira glances out of the security room windows. Fox is still standing in the walkway. The artist's back is facing towards him, but Akira can still see the ears on his mask rising and falling.
What is he doing? He can't help but wonder. Something about this didn't feel right. Aside from the other boy's odd behavior, him being alone, especially after only just awakening his persona- not that Akira had that much more time to adjust- gave him the impression that something bad was going to happen.
Skull rolls towards him on the chair he'd sat down into and tugs on his arm. "Did you have to use a password when you disabled that trap thing the other day? 'Cause when we got through the door thing there was only a switch thing to keep the door opened."
He nods.
"D'you remember it? 'Cause this thing needs a password." A yellow thumb jerks towards one of the monitors that was no longer displaying a camera feed but instead a familiar looking prompt.
Enter Password
Akira steps forward to type it in, but taps on his teammate's shoulder to draw his attention away from the screen.
"Huh?" The blond says, perhaps too loudly.
He points towards the window, towards Fox out in the hall. Skull stands, abandoning the rolling chair to follows his gaze.
"Oh him? What about it?" The other asks.
A swell of shame makes his stagger for a moment, a spark of the forbidden runs through him as he gestures towards his own eyes then back at their newest member.
"Keep an eye on him." Akira says, feeling embarrassed- not only for asking but for signing when he shouldn't. It reminded him of back on the school roof, when started ranting without meaning to and how relieved he felt afterwards, even if the people in front of him couldn't understand him.
"Watch him? You got it." Skull complies quickly, as if Akira had any real power over him. The blond quickly exits the room, the security room door sliding shut behind him, and Akira feels rather accomplished- almost like a leader- but slightly dreadful.
If something happened now, not only would Fox be injured, but Skull was at risk as well.
Quickly, he settles in front of the computer and types in the number sequence from before. Nothing happened; nothing disables or opens up, but no alarms go off either. Akira types it in again. The same thing- nothing- happens. Moving slowly, he navigates each digit in the password, double-checking himself before pressing enter for the third time.
Nothing happens.
Did it change? He questions silently. A wave of sweet slithers down his back.
The password not working could mean any number of things. They might have to leave the palace and engage with Madarame in the real world once again. Or they might have to look around for clues inside of the MetaVerse, a switch or another powerful shadow, maybe even a mix of the two.
Sucking in a deep breath, Akira feels a pressure form over his eyes as the security room turns into dark shades of blue. The computer screen in front of him glows brightly, but doesn't grab his attention. Speckles of bright light in the shape of fingerprints create a sheen over the keyboard just below it, but all of the keys are highlighted, offering no clues as to what keys to press or what the password might be.
Nothing else in the room draws his attention. With his head throbbing, Akira drops the thief vision, letting the world sink back into shining gold.
Akira glances towards Panther and Mona, both of them are looking towards the numerous monitors and he's not sure how to interject to inform them of his failure.
He walks out of the security room with the need to be alone, but Skull and Fox are just outside of the door and match pace with him as soon as he walks through it.
"Did it work?" Skull questions to his right, the blond's arm falls over his shoulder again and Akira finds himself feeling crowded by the added weight.
The question, for reasons he can't grasp, makes him stop walking and he looks down at his feet, at the disintegrated form of the shadow guard licking at his boots, stirred up by his attempt at escaping. Akira shakes his head another moment later, feeling uncomfortable; they were standing on a corpse and yet his teammate's eyes seemed latched onto him instead.
"It didn't work?" The blond rephrases, his voice flatter than before. Golden light reflects off the other's mask, making him look even further away from the man all but hanging off of him.
He's let Skull down, and Fox, too, who they- he'd- had gotten kicked from his home to get past Madarame's other defenses.
We're in over our heads. Akira thinks, not for the first time, but definitely with the most finality he'd ever felt since discovering the MetaVerse. It would be unlikely, if not impossible, to get close enough to Madarame to get a clue as to what the next password might be, if it even came up at all. The shadow that was guarding the password, if something like that even existed, would be more powerful than the last and Akira's not sure if the five of them could handle it without more of them on the brink of death.
"That's some shit." Skull responds, nodding vaguely. "What do you think we should do? Look around that room again? Steal Madarame's phone or something?"
"That wouldn't be a wise course of action." Fox speaks up from behind them. Skull releases him to turn to their teammate and Akira shuffles around to do the same.
"Why's that?" Skull scoffs suddenly, "He probably can't even work a phone, so that's probably out. Dude's gotta be like, eighty or something, right?"
Fox crosses his arms, "Madarame is actually quite adept with technology, not that he'd ever show as much in public..." The artist trails off, then clears his throat, "Actually, he's contacted a private security company to have us all detained for trespassing and intends to pursue legal action against all of us. Morgana excluded, of course."
Legal action. Akira feels his heart seize in his chest at the other's words.
Skull chokes, "How do you know that?" He crows.
Fox's tail swishes to the side, but the artist remains entirely still as he explains, "Sensei contacted me this morning. Informing me that I was no longer welcome, that I was no longer his pupil, and that he intended to see us all jailed for what we saw the other day."
"W-what did you guys see behind that door?" Skull stammers out.
"The Sayuri, the infamous stolen painting." Fox answers steadily. "The entire room was filled with counterfeits as well. Sensei- Madarame- he sold them for profit. A way to satiate his greed, to make this," The taller boy throws his arms out wide, gesturing to the room around them, "Into a reality."
"Guess that means we gotta find this treasure fast then, before more of those things get sold." Skull suggests.
Fox doesn't say anything else. Skull walks up to the artist and drops a hand on his shoulder, just like he'd done to Akira a few times.
"And uh," His teammate says quietly, "Sorry about all that shit. I know what're you're goin' through, well, not exactly, but like, we're here for you, dude." Yellow gloves clap down on the artist's taller shoulders a few times before Skull backs away from the other.
"Thank you, I believe that's the kindest thing anyone has ever said to me." Fox answers.
"Er, right." Skull backs away another step and turns towards him suddenly. The blond's face glows red as he talks towards him, "Let's go look for this password thing, yeah?"
Akira follows the other two as they head back towards the control room.
"What's going on?" Panther questions as the three of them walk through the sliding door.
"Password ain't workin'." Skull explains, dropping down into the chair in front of the still glowing computer. He searches through the desk, lifting up papers and folders, presumably looking for the password.
"Do you think it'd be in here somewhere?" She questions next.
Skull shrugs and continues snooping through the contents of the desk in front of him.
"Do you think it might be like that door then? Do we have to go back to the shack?" Panther questions.
"I don't think so, Panther." Morgana jumps in. "There aren't any other rooms that a password could be locked behind, if anything, it'd be something that Madarame himself thought of."
"But Madarame said he had another house, though." Panther counters.
"Oh yeah!" Skull blurts. "Didn't he say he had a mistress or something?"
"Could it be possible, Morgana?" Panther asks.
Morgana shakes his head, "I don't think so. The palace's manifestation relies on real-world cognition, so the palace defenses are entirely based on that shack and his perceptions around it. I think, if anything, the password would be something related to that; not to mention, it's part of Madarame's subconscious, so his desires might have an affect on something like this."
"Something he desires in that shack...?" Skull echoes.
"What about Kitagawa, er, Fox, I mean." Panther suggests.
"Gross." Both Skull and Mona groan.
"Talent." Fox suggests next.
"Ooh, burn." Panther laughs, "I doubt the password would be a name anyways."
"What about that Sayuri thing you said earlier?" Skull entreats, jerking up in his seat as if the suggestion hit him physically.
"The Sayuri? You mean that painting that went missing?" Panther questions, then exclaims, "That could be it! Maybe he wants to make something as successful as the Sayuri again. That could be his desire!"
"Let's try it." Skull amends, pulling the keyboard in front of him. "Uh, nope." He says a moment later.
"Hm." Mona hops onto the desk in front of him, "How did you get the password last time, Joker? Maybe we can do something similar?"
Tugging his phone from his coat pocket, Akira begins typing. He's grateful that his hands have something to do, but feels uncomfortable with the relentless staring of his teammates as he types out a reply.
"I overheard the shadows talking about the password." Akira explains, twisting the screen around for Morgana.
"Huh." Mona responds, tapping where his chin might be. "That makes sense."
"It does?" Skull questions incredulously.
"I'll try to put it in a way you can understand, Skull." Mona chastises. The cat turns to stick his tongue out at the blond before he begins, "Palaces are manifestations of desires, right? They also, for some reason, draw shadows into them. The shadows become corrupted by the ruler's influence somehow."
Panther interrupts, "So that's why the shadows in Kamoshida's palace were in armor and these guys are dressed as security guards?"
Mona nods, "Precisely."
"Oh." Skull says quietly, "I didn't really notice that until you just said it."
"Anyways." The cat stresses, "Since the shadows are corrupted by the palace's ruler, it makes sense that they'd know about the password."
"What're you implying, Mona?" Panther asks.
"I'm fairly certain that if we want to find the password, we need to find more shadows." He explains.
Skull sighs, "So they're kinda like mini-Madarame's."
"A depressing sentiment." Fox laments, "Though, with that perspective, the thought of attacking those creatures weighs less heavily on my conscious."
"That's uh... Good." Skull observes, "I think."
"Should we go to the other security room then?" Panther suggests.
"I think we might be looking for a specific shadow." Mona contradicts.
"Like the one guarding the door?" Skull questions before turning towards him. "Hey, didn't that shadow drop something earlier? Maybe it was a clue on how to find the password or something?"
Akira reaches into his coat once more and searches for the oddly shaped card. It tingles when his fingers brush against it and he feels the same feeling from earlier of something persona-like, but he's still unsure how to describe it.
The glass filters the light from the control room and glows in a myriad of colors from the countless monitors. He hands it over to Skull, who almost drops it when it touches him, and Akira watches as the other twists and turns it in his hands, searching it's transparent edges for something password-related.
Eventually, the other boy hands it back to him."Hm, maybe it means something to Madarame? Like the necklace that one shadow dropped or something."
Akira shrugs. He's not sure what to make of anything and he's starting to unravel; they'd spent a few hours in the MetaVerse already, not to mention the stressful factors outside of the MetaVerse that weighed down on their group.
"Maybe we should camp out in the hallway for a bit, a shadow that knows the password will probably end up coming up here when he notices his buddy is gone." Skull suggests while taking to his feet.
"Should we split up then?" Fox suggests. "We'd be able to eavesdrop on multiple versions of Madarame if we worked separately."
"I dunno." Panther drawls. Her hand slides against her stomach where she'd been stabbed. The wound was no longer there, but he can still remember what it felt like to be able to look through someone's chest. "You're still pretty new at this, Fox, I think we should all stick together, just in case something happens again, like with that other shadow."
"I suppose so." Fox concedes.
Akira leads them back out of the security room and back in the direction of the other security room, hoping that no shadows would show up but praying for this password all the same.
When they sneak past the first security room, Akira feels slightly dizzy, but pushes ahead, circling around the second floor until someone tugs him out of his next step and behind a corner.
"Look!" Panther says from nearby. Pink fingers point down the hallway, to a place they hadn't explored yet. Down the corridor, two shadow guards were hunched close together. They didn't have faces, but their heads shook and their hands waved, giving Akira the impression that they were talking to each other, even without mouths.
"Let's get closer." Panther suggests, all too close. Akira shudders silently, but complies, scooting along the wall as quietly as he can until they're all within reaching distance of both shadows. Akira hides behind a vase that is both wide and tall. Two shoots of bamboo jut out of the dirt, sprouting into a bundle of foliage that blocks his view of the shadows. Morgana and Panther are tucked in beside him, hidden from the shadow's attention.
Directly across from them, Fox and Skull kneel behind a display case, it's glass top allow the other two to glance towards the pair of shadows.
Akira leans forward on his hands and tries to listen to the whispers of the shadows ahead. Their voices are deep but soft, making it difficult to catch each word over the sound of his teammates shuffling beside him.
"...Got past the... garden." One of the shadows says.
The other sighs loudly and answers in a similar sounding voice, "Yeah, I had to... the password for the..."
The first shadow leans in closer, the beam of its flashlight slides over where the three of them are hiding, but it doesn't seem to notice them. It makes his heart jump in his chest all the same and Akira leans closer still, trying to listen.
"What to?" It asks, "It better not be as simple as last time."
"Well," The other says, "I... some trouble coming up... For now, I... numbers for... Madarame's feet."
The light that had fallen on him disappears. Down the hall, Akira can see the guard rubbing at his head with its flashlight, looking disturbingly human. "Lord Madarame's feet?" It questions loudly.
Its partner doesn't answer and waves the other shadow off. "It doesn't matter." Akira catches, "Just get back to patrol, I'll tell you later." It instructs, already walking away and towards them.
Madarame's feet? Akira can't help but question. It was lucky they'd managed to catch the shadows when they did, but the clue didn't seem like much of a clue at all.
"Don't follow trails when you can cut across the gardens." Arsene says suddenly, making him jump.
"The numbers for Madarame's feet?" Panther asks as he takes to his feet.
Akira's unsure what to do next, but he's already standing, and already moving. If they kept listening to Madarame's other shadows, one of them might let the password slip eventually. On the other hand, they might not, continuing to share the same clue that they'd just overheard. Arsene was right, though, getting the password might be as simple as locating the source. In this case, it would be the shadow that had just walked past them.
Arsene flickers into being as soon as Akira calls into the void as if he'd been anticipating what Akira might do. A wave of blackened fire sweeps across the floor, catching around the guard's legs. The guard falls to the ground, its form dissolving into a group of shadows that all turn to face him.
"Are you crazy?" Panther whispers quite loudly before running over. Mona, Fox, and Skull run over as well after another moment, just as one of the shadows dashes forwards using its wings to propel without touching the ground. A scythe that's taller than the shadow wielding it fans outwards, revealing multiple blades that ripple with a dark energy, and streaks downwards from above him, making streaks of purple and pink in the air.
The scythe crashes down from above, but crash against something, creating a thunderous sound.
"Not this time!" Skull says, also from above. His arms are extended, yellow hands on either side of his pipe to block the still descending blades. They slide against each other as the blond falls downwards, back towards the ground, and create sparks that fizzle to the ground. The shadow's momentum, or maybe its strength, outmatches his teammate's quickly. The scythe's multiple blades sink into the black sleeves of Skull's jacket, creating tears in the material and in his flesh. Streams of dark blood well up over the penetrating blades and splash onto the ground below him.
"Goemon!" Fox enchants, making the museum's air chill over. Icy spears erupt from the ground, slowing down the other shadows as they fly towards them.
Akira sucks in a deep breath and reaches towards Arsene once again, sending the persona forward to match the scythe-wielding shadow. It snarls and hisses as his persona approaches from one side and Akira the other, revealing multiple rows of pointed teeth and a slithering, snake-like tongue that lashes violently in its mouth.
Arsene's wings stretch backwards slowly, before sending a massive gust of wind across the corridor. Ice flurries across the walkway, whiting out the golden floors of Madarame's museum. He lunges forward as well, sinking his blade into shadow's wing instead of its arm as it starts getting blown away. The sheer flesh of the wing shatters like broken glass, splintering outwards as his knife slides trough it.
It screams and drops the grip on its scythe, which is all Akira can ask for as he fumbles with the gun in his non-dominant hand. The weapons- both his gun and the shadow's scythe- clatter to the floor and get buried in the snowy shards beneath them.
Before he can worry about the shadow lashing out again, Skull steps forward, readjusting his grip on his rod before it arcs widely through the air and connects solidly with the shadow's head.
It goes silent, then slowly sinks into nothing beneath the snow and ice.
Akira doesn't look for his other weapon and continues to command Arsene forward where the other shadows are being held off by his teammates. With the five of them, the others are destroyed, except for one.
Akira lifts his arms, holding Panther and Skull, who'd been standing beside him, back from delivering a final blow to the ground-bound shadow in front of them.
"Huh?" Skull questions, attempting to step past his arm once again. Akira drops his arm, but steps forward, faster than his teammate can, and blocks the shadow with his body, quickly pulling out his phone before anything else can happen.
"Password" Akira orders from the shadow. Both of its legs are broken, one charred and smoking, the other bent at an unusual angle. Akira tries not to look at them, nor at the pained expression on its face.
"Why I tell you?" It croaks out with the voice of an old woman.
He shakes the phone in the shadow's face, asking again. The light from his screen bounces over its face, revealing the odd, scaly texture of its green face. His message is reflected back at him in the dark, nearly-black shine of its widened eyes.
"No password!" It hisses back at him and tries to crawl away. Without thinking about it, Akira steps forward and places his foot on its chest; the shadow heaves against his boot and tries to claw at him, but is too weak to fight back.
When it whimpers and sighs, Akira recognizes what he's doing is cruel, wrong in more ways than one, yet is something that he's already doing. The shadow would die soon, or become a part of him, but he needed that password.
"Password." Akira asks again, presenting his phone again.
The shadow sighs, closing its blackened eyes. It almost looks peaceful and Akira feels even more uncomfortable. "One-One-Two-Zero." It breathes slowly. "Sign at statue feet."
"Thank you." Akira says with his free hand, just as the shadow shifts forms yet again. The monster hadn't opened its eyes, and even if it did, he doubted that it would understand what he was saying, yet it soothed the fire under his skin telling him what he'd just done was wrong. Just beneath him, the shadow starts to fall apart, shifting into small beads of pale light that spill over like sand. It spreads into a puddle before suddenly bouncing upwards. The movement is fast enough to make Akira jump backwards, but the movement is useless as the puddle flies towards him. The light swirls like a river, blinding him as it flies right into his face and through him.
The shadow's presence builds up inside of him, as the stream of the shadow thins out, the more complete it starts feeling inside of him.
"Me remember my name now..." It says vaguely, with a soft, but deep voice. "Your sea... My soul... Save..."
Akira's not sure what to make of it. He's never acted that way before, not that he's had many chances to do so, yet... It felt like a door had been opened, one's that always been there, part of him just as much Arsene is. Morgana had said that the shadows weren't real, that nothing in the MetaVerse was, yet the guards and the shadows seemed and acted more human than Akira felt at the moment.
1120. The password's simplicity sits uncomfortably in his chest.
With a sigh, he stands, removing his feet from what remained of the shadow.
"That was kinda extreme, don't you think?" Panther comments quietly. Akira turns around and finds her standing closer than where he'd blocked them off. Her mask is pushed back again, revealing a frown.
"It did seem quite... brutal." Fox comments. The artist is standing off to the side, staring at one of the paintings adorning the golden wall. "Sometimes, however, if I've learned anything since becoming a phantom thief-"
"Wasn't that like yesterday?" Skull comments over the other.
"It's that if we're meant to redeem Madarame, it's sometimes necessary to match his cruelness." Fox finishes. The artist steps forward, tracing something on canvas with his fingers, his touch leaves behind trails of ice, highlighting his path, but Akira can't make out what the other is meant to be tracing. "Taking the high road has done nothing for any of us, if what Panther has told me holds true."
"S-still," Panther continues. "It's not their fault that Madarame is like this, it's cruel of us to take it out on them just to save time."
Mona steps forward, " I think Fox has a point, Panther. Being a phantom thief is about the greater good, the faster we get rid of the palace's ruler, the less harm he or she will be doing in the real world."
She sighs, "I guess so. It just seems so real, so it feels wrong to just do that, you know?"
The cat nods slowly. "It's like Skull said, though, the shadows here are basically mini-Madarame's. They've been too corrupted to recognize themselves."
"Really?"
Mona nods, "Remember the shadows in the Mementos? Didn't you notice that they act differently than the ones we encounter inside of palaces?"
Panther shakes her head, then shrugs. "I don't think so."
"Mementos is where shadows originate, where they exist in their purest forms. But when they enter a palace, they become extensions of the palace's ruler, forgetting what they were before." Mona explains.
"That makes sense." Panther nods. Skull jumps in as well, "Explains why none of the shadows in Mementos ever talk about Madarame, except that one dude."
"We should get going." Mona suggests. "The treasure should be close by, if I remember right, there should only be a few rooms past here."
"Thank god." Skull huffs, "I'm gettin' pretty tired."
Akira felt tired too. His head throbbed and his body felt sluggish as he lead the way back towards the security room. He's careful, though, not to let his sluggishness affect typing in the password.
The screen lights up immediately, flashing green before opening up a set of menus. Akira filters through, them, turning off laser grids and unlocking doors, leaving the previously guarded corridor from before open for them to walk through. He compares it to the map of the second floor and, true to what Morgana had pointed out, there were only two more corridors of the palace that they hadn't seen and Madarame would be behind one of them.
Akira leads them back through where they'd been before, sneaking past the enter-able paintings and into the walkway across from it. The now opened area was quiet with lack of activity, yet the unknown still had Akira's heart racing.
"That room, Joker!" Mona whispers from his side. Kneeling as low as he is, the cat is almost as tall as he is. "For some reason, it's cognition is really low." As soon as he says this, the closed door and the wall around it fades from its golden color into dark brown wood and a fragile looking door.
"That looks like the entrance to sensei's room." Fox points out, no longer hiding along the wall. "Would the treasure be beyond that door?"
"Unlikely." Mona counters. The cat steps forward too, heading towards the door, "Madarame wouldn't be able to guard the treasure very well if it were in a room of low cognition."
Akira follows after his teammate and steps into the room as Fox opens the door. Like the door had moments ago, the room flashes into a replication of Madarame's shack, even the smell shifts slightly as Akira files into the room behind the others. It disappears just as quickly though, leaving a small golden room behind as the shack's interior disappears.
"How strange." Fox muses quietly. "This is the first time in recent memory of seeing the inside of Madarame's room. Odd that I'd only see past the door by entering his heart."
"That ain't weird." Skull corrects, "That's just sad, man."
"Yes, I suppose it is." The artist sighs.
"Can we-" Panther yawns, "See that map, Joker?" She requests, tapping on a table in the center of the room that flashes from gold to dark brown every few moments.
Akira pulls the two maps from his coat and spreads them over the table. His fingers flow through the rooms- and paintings- they've been through quickly, Panther's following after his shortly after until they both arrive at the same door at the end of the corridor they'd just entered, the only room they haven't been in yet.
Morgana was right, the treasure wouldn't be far off. Just through the door down the hall.
"So the treasure should be in this room, Mona?" Panther inquiries, "It doesn't seem very big."
The cat shrugs, "I can feel the treasure is pretty close by, but... it seems further away than when we were just down the hall."
Panther frowns. It seems like she's doing a lot of that. "Do you think Madarame moved the treasure?"
"Can he do that?" Skull tacks on.
Mona taps on the map, towards the end of the hall, "I'm not sure. But this is the last place it could be. Madarame might be doing something to interfere with my abilities."
"He can do that?" Skull asks again.
The cat pouts, "I-I'm not sure. It's never happened before, but it could happen, I think."
The blond grunts and slides the map for the second floor closer towards him. "S'just one left, right? I guess there's only one way to find out."
Mona nods, then turns towards him, "Ready, Joker?" When Akira nods, his teammate asks the same of Panther, who nods as well. Akira turns towards Fox when his teammate does, and finds the artist whispering softly towards one of the room's paintings. The canvas shifts between a golden depiction of Madarame and a faded painting of two figures, the other teen is blocking most of the image, so he only sees some of the image; Akira doesn't recognize either of them and isn't sure if he should ask if Fox does.
"Fox?" Panther asks loudly when the artist doesn't respond to Mona.
Fox goes silent, then turns away from the painting. "Oh, are we going now?" He questions lightly.
"Uh... yeah." Panther drawls out slowly.
The artist nods and walks towards them silently. Akira's not sure what to make of the interaction, neither Panther or Skull had spent much time examining Kamoshida's palace. Alternatively, neither of them had viewed Kamoshida like Fox viewed Madarame. The artist wanted to help his father figure, just like he'd wanted to help Suzui and the others, yet, despite their similarities, something about the other boy made him uneasy.
He wondered if Fox felt the same way.
The door to Madarame's bedroom flashes under his hands when he pries it open, turning back to gold from brown wood; regardless of its form, it still creaks slightly as Akira pushes it open slowly. He peers into the hallway, looking for shadows or other signs of danger, but finds nothing. From his position, he can see straight down the hall, all the way to where the door the treasure should be behind.
Pulling the door fully open, Akira waves his teammates behind them and, even though there weren't any shadows, he leads them around the edge of the room until they reach the door. Like before, Akira pulls the door open slowly and peers through the crack made between the door and wall.
Nothing moves past the door, no sounds come from the other side either. Slowly, he pulls the door fully open and takes a step through, then another.
The hallway they'd just left opens up into another hallway, not dissimilar to the garden from before. Small, identical looking trees line either side of the hallway in small, golden pots; the pots themselves aren't identical to each other, each are printed with a different- also golden- kanji. He finds them difficult to read, but otherwise harmless.
Slowly, he leads the others down the next hallway, pausing whenever he hears an unusual sound or a shadow seems to slide across the floor. Eventually, the planted trees stop and the hallway opens up into a massive room. The hallways bends off on either side and wraps around the room as a balcony with a large fence that sweeps across all but one wall. The wall across from him is covered in enormous framed paintings, each one is at least twice as tall as he is, maybe even more, and suspended from metal scaffolding at awkward angles.
Akira walks closer to the guardrails and peers upwards, then towards the floor. The room goes straight to the ground level, maybe even lower, and straight up for some ways, until paintings become blurs of color, but mostly shadow.
Madarame isn't in the room like he'd been expecting, nor was the treasure.
"Uh... Where's Madarame?" Skull questions from his side. The blond leans over the railing, and Akira feels his stomach drop into his feet at the thought of falling from such a height. "I don't see the treasure, either..." Panther comments.
"Those paintings look quite strange, though," Fox points towards the far wall, where the massive paintings hang. "Could one of those be the treasure?"
"Nah, dude." Skull rebukes, still leaning over the balcony's edge, "It's kinda like, a ball thing. It... glows and stuff."
"Could it be inside one of the paintings then?" The artist questions next.
"It might be possible... Madarame is an artist after all." Mona nods. Panther nods as well, "Maybe that's why you can't sense it or whatever? 'Cause he hid in one of the paintings."
Mona walks ahead of him as they walk around the room and towards the paintings and jumps in first once they're close enough. Akira's not sure why he does this, but quickly follows after the other and is instantly assaulted by whipping wind and a sinking sensation. Looking down, he finds his feet starting to sink in bright orange sand. Even through his boots, he can feel its warmth starting to bleed into his skin.
Akira thinks back on Fox's words as his feet continue to sink into the painting. In his life, he'd seen sand a few times, mostly on his way home from school, but he'd never touched it before. He never thought it would be this warm or make him sink, and he'd never considered that he might learn those things while inside of Madarame's heart.
"Alas," Madarame's voice sighs out upon a gust of desert wind, "This world is a desert filled with laymen who cannot understand true beauty. The slow drain of my skill is inevitable when I am surrounded by such mediocrity."
The next painting he steps into leaves him just as shocked as the last one. The shift from hot to cold makes his skin squeeze in on itself. Even with most of his skin covered, moisture soaks into his skin as an current sweeps underneath his feet. A large torii gate stands tall in the middle of the storm, bright red against ever shifting blue clouds and water.
Akira walks towards it, fighting against the painting's current, and hears Madarame's voice grow louder as he gets closer. "The gods!" The artist booms over the rush of water, sounding light lightning despite the clear skies overhead, "Even in their dormancy, are worshiped constantly! People gather under shrine gates, offer their money, and return home satisfied! Art is practically the same! In the end, it's all a matter of imagination." Madarame's voice fades off with a laugh as Akira slides under the large gate and into the next frame.
The air remains wet, but Akira hears his- and his teammates- boots squeak loudly as he walks across a jungle floor, ducking under tree branches as he follows a narrow path. Madarame's thoughts call out once again, dulling the experience. "Hard work is not what makes a sapling grow thick with green leaves. Too many young people do not see the true value in youth these days. What fools. Is it truly wrong for an expert such as myself to capitalize on that youth before it wastes away?"
"Could a ship skirt across the ocean if its crew had to constantly worry about what sea life might lie below? Art, life, water! They are all identical! The one who ascends to the summit is the victor."
"Beauty is but a mirage." Madarame sighs out, smoke billows through the canvas in a thick wave, blocking another forest view from his vision. "Transforming that into money is what brings about true happiness. My mansion, my lifestyle among the chosen few. Those things are the true art!"
Akira steps into the next canvas, only to find himself falling out of the painting entirely. He falls, face first, onto the scaffolding that the paintings were suspended from and the entire structure rattles loudly when his body collides with it.
"Those were truly sensei's thoughts?" Fox asks quietly as he steps down from the frame. "How despicable... To think I'd been blinded by his act for so long. We've seen so many of his paintings, yet, not once, did he mention a love for art."
The taller teen turns back towards the painting he'd just exited from and rests his hands on it. Smoking ice spills out from his fingers and spreads across the landscapes depicted, freezing them where the ice spreads. "These are not paintings. They are meaningless self-assertions placed into frames!" He shouts, his usually tame voice echoes off the chamber's walls.
Akira pulls himself to his feet as Panther pulls Fox into an embrace, red arms sliding over shaking shoulders.
"We should move, before any shadows notice us." Mona suggests quietly, pointing towards a door that wasn't on the map.
Maybe the treasure is behind there? Akira hopes. If that were the case, Madarame would be waiting too.
The room opens up into another gallery, nearly identical to the ones on the first floor except they shouldn't exist. The map ends in the massive gallery from the room before, and the door they walked through shouldn't exist either. But it did, along with the shadow guards patrolling around it.
Akira sneaks around them, he was starting to feel tired as well, and he hoped that nothing as dangerous appeared in front of them before they found Madarame's treasure.
"Wait." Skull whispers loudly as Akira's about to pull another golden door open. Akira turns to look behind him and finds his teammate pointing towards a set of doorways. "Do the shadows y'know... go?"
"Don't be gross!" Panther chastises at the same time as Morgana does, "Of course not!"
"What are the chances of Madarame's treasure being in a bathroom, though?" The blond continues. Despite everything, the other boy is still smiling.
"I don't feel anything close by, so let's just keep looking." Mona insists. Skull turns towards him and shrugs.
Akira shrugs back, then turns towards the door he was about to push open.
The other side of the door blinds him with an unrivaled intensity. A step through the door and everything turns into bright shades of gold, even the sky despite the museum being cast in constant darkness; it leaves him wondering if they'd managed to step outside or if this was another display of Madarame's true nature.
"There's so much gold..." Panther groans. "It's actually hurting my eyes."
Mona steps forward once more and sniffs at the air, "The distortion is especially bad here. This place is barely holding together, plus it's not even on the map..."
The room seems to go on forever in each direction. Walkways and stairs float with support, some upside-down or sideways and with no way to access them. Akira steps forward though, hoping that he might catch glimpse of the treasure before anything else happens. Various artifacts of Madarame's museum hang in the air, suspended in the golden air by nothing but Madarame's consciousness; framed pictures of the artist's pupils float slowly through the air and Akira is pretty certain he sees Fox's face float by in the distance.
The walkway leads to a small pedestal, also golden, with an unusual charm on top and when he clutches his hands around it he feels his vision blur as an unfamiliar voice calls out.
"Sensei!" A boy's voice screams without a source. "I got you this!" The charm glows faintly in his hand, but does nothing else as he drops it into his pocket. He glances over his shoulder at his teammates, only to find them staring back quietly.
Had they not heard the strange voice?
After he grabs the keychain, the golden walkways unfolds, stretching outwards towards a large, platform. The platform, like the rest of the room, floats solidly in the empty space. Two sets of stairs, each going in a different direction, are guarded by matching easels. Each has a painting on top, one that Akira recognizes from earlier that week. Images of the Sayuri sit on the stands, staring away from him. Fox takes an immediate interest in them, sliding past him with an air of ice. Akira watches as the artist starts running his hands over the figure's face, then another detail on the other.
"The Sayuri." He mumbles loud enough for Akira to hear. "Though this one is fraudulent."
Fox sighs and sets one of the paintings back on its stand, "I'm not sure how much of this I can take." He whispers still.
Panther steps around him and approaches their newest teammate. She pulls the artist into an embrace and when she talks, she uses a hushed voice, but it still seems to echo around the room. "Do you want to leave, Yusuke-kun? I know it can be rough seeing someone you love like this..."
Like this? He wondered if she meant about Suzui or if she'd seen other people hurt like Kitagawa was.
"Yeah, dude." Skull says, not bothering with controlling the volume of his voice. "We still have time before the art show-thingy ends, we can head back if it's too much for you or whatever."
Fox nods silently against Panther's head, then shakes his head with another sigh. "Sensei- Madarame is planning on revealing a brand new piece on the second to last day of the gallery. Would that not impact the dangers of this place?"
"Another piece?" Mona questions, also stepping around him. "It could be possible..."
"It'd be all over the news an' stuff." Skull points out.
The cat nods, "If that's the case, the palace might grow even bigger..." Panther nods as well, her face scratching where it's still pressed against the artist's chest. "Plus this place isn't even on the map, so who knows how much more of it there is..."
"Ooh!" Skull's voice echoes noisily around the empty space. When Akira turns back towards his teammate, he finds the blond smiling widely under his mask. "What if we sent the calling card as he released that new thing? It'd be all over the place! He'd be so freaked out."
"That's not a bad idea, Skull, assuming we find the treasure in time." Mona concedes. "The shock from being called out might make changing his heart easier."
"Plus," The blond drawls out cheerfully, "We'd be totally famous!"
"Famous?" Fox questions, "I- I'm not sure I can continue doing this if fame is the Phantom Thieves' true goal..."
"Ryuji." Panther snaps, finally releasing the artist to turn towards her other teammate, only to turn right back to the person in front of her. "It's not Kitagawa-kun. We're really just trying to help you, and Madarame, too."
"Very well." Fox amends, then points towards the stairs on the other end of the platform. "Shall we try the stairs then? Surely one of these two should bring us closer to the treasure?"
"Can you tell which way the treasure is, Mona?" Panther asks. The cat shakes his head slowly, "It's hard to tell. As soon as we stepped into this room it feels like I've completely lost my sense of direction... I er, I mean the treasure has to be close. We just need to look for any clues before we delve deeper into the unknown."
Skull takes a step onto the ascending staircase and looks back at them, "Up is always good, right?"
"Or it could be bad." Panther argues, taking a few steps down the lower path.
"It's possible they could both be bad, of course." Fox points out, but drops down to where Takamaki's level.
"What do you think, Joker? Up or down?" Mona asks from just below. Akira steps forward and looks between the two paths. Both are practically identical, golden stairs leading towards a veil of blue where a doorway should be; other than up or down, nothing was different about the different options.
While Akira looks for differences, Skull, Panther, and Fox walk upwards and downwards, respectively, and step into the walkways, disappearing instantly behind the doorways only to collide into each other at the doorway Skull was just about to walk into.
"Carmen!" Panther shrieks as soon as she bumps into Skull, just before the upper staircase erupts in a well of fire and smoke. The sound, like every other in the room, echoes endlessly and makes his heart hammer painfully against his chest as fear starts to set in. In the next instance, his teammates, except for Mona, fall onto each other as they reappear in the doorway of the lower staircase.
"They're connected?" Mona questions, appearing unfazed by the sudden noise and violence, pointing to where their teammates had just been to where they are now. "There must be something more to this room than meets the eye, then..."
"Fuck that hurts!" Skull cries out from the bottom of the stairs. When Akira looks down at his clustered teammates, he finds Skull looking worse than he'd been moments ago; a large hole had been burned in the blond's jacket, exposing red and pink skin that, as the other boy grows closer, releases small wisps of smoke.
"Ryuji!" Panther calls out as she races after him. "I'm so sorry!"
"Can it, Takamaki, I don't wanna-" The other teen drops down onto the stair's stoop, facing away from him, and places a hand against his now exposed flesh. Akira can see his entire body recoil as he feels the wound. "Fuck that fucking hurts!"
Akira's not sure what he should be thinking, or what he should do for that matter, when he sees his teammates injuring each other. Even if he doesn't know what the right thing to do, either before or after it happened, his stomach still bubbles with unease at the situation. If he'd told either of them to wait, the entire thing would have been prevented, but he hadn't. If he'd went with either of them, he could have stopped Takamaki from being scared, but, again, he hadn't.
Akira's not sure what to do, either, the two paths seem to lead into each other and the only thing his thief vision brought to interest was his injured teammate and the two paintings.
"Maybe there's more to these paintings that meets the eye." Fox says suddenly. Akira turns to find the artist suddenly beside him, handling one of the Sayuri paintings. "It would be a tight fit, but maybe we could-" The artist's hand, bright and blue, pierces through the Sayuri's blue gown and the entire world seems to vibrate for a moment before the other- not destroyed- painting catches his eye just as it disintegrates into itself.
A bright ball of light emerges from the painting, one that looks similar to how a treasure might, and flies off, towards the upper staircase his teammates had just fallen from. The doorway begins to glow a bright gold color that blends in with the golden space around it.
"Um." Fox hums, still staring at the canvas his hand had punctured through. "This was not my intention." He explains quietly as he finally tugs the broken canvas off of his arm. It clatters on the ground once, then slides over the edge of the platform. Akira's not sure where it goes after that.
"Told you I was right!" Ryuji cheers, no longer sounding in pain. When Akira turns, once again, towards his teammate, he finds Skull smiling and appearing no longer injured, the smell of burning flesh had faded as well, though his costume is still tattered where Panther had burnt him, exposing a wide patch of Skull's unscarred chest.
"By destroying the fake paintings, we find the real path, then?" Mona confirms, the cat is looking towards Fox with a smile. "Nice work, Fox."
"I did something?" Fox questions, falling into step behind Mona as the cat follows after Panther.
"I mean, I would have figured it out sooner, if these two idiots weren't running off and hurting each other." The cat explains, flipping a paw towards the two at the top of the staircase.
Skull and Panther's faces both go red under their masks. Both of them remain silent though, and step into the now golden doorway together with Mona and Fox following shortly after them.
Akira steps through the doorway alone and feels his entire body shift as the doorway seems to shrink and expand endlessly in the few seconds it takes for him to make his way through. The golden doorway opens up another platform, nearly identical to the one they'd just been on, but a different shape. In the distance, he could see more and more easels lined up on the edges of the platform.
Tired, he continues forward, after his teammates, and stands next to them as Fox begins examining the number of canvases; like before, all of the paintings were like the Sayuri, but there was something slightly different about each one.
"There's more up there too." Panther points out, gesturing to another walkway that was connected to theirs.
Akira looked around, at the paintings and the platforms, but found nowhere for them to go, even if they did find the right painting.
"Not this one." Fox says after a long moment, his sword pierces through the painting and stand. When he retracts the blade, the entire thing topples over the edge of the platform. "To think these counterfeits would make up the alchemy of sensei's brain." The artist mumbles as he steps towards another painting.
"The hair is different on this one." Fox says instantly before executing the painting.
"We should probably just stay out of his way." Panther suggests quietly before sitting down on the edge of the platform, her feet hang over the confusing mess that the room was made of. Skull joins her, sitting at her side while Mona takes the other.
Akira sits next to them. His legs flood with relief, cool and relaxed, when he does and lets out a sigh. Even as he takes a break, though, he makes sure to keep an eye on Fox the entire time, watching anxiously for something to happen.
A long time seems to pass before Fox finally narrows the correct painting down. The artist's sword doesn't make contact with the easel, instead, the taller boy embraces the painting just before it destroys itself, turning into another ball of light that flies into the air and sinks into the unknown beneath them.
He peers over the edge to see where it goes, but can't follow it through the golden fog and sideways platforms.
"What the hell? Where the shit did that one go?" Skull groans from beside him.
"Maybe it was my door?" Panther suggests as she pulls herself to her feet.
"That's a possibility. There don't seem to be any doors like those ones here." Mona amends, already walking towards the door they'd walked through.
Akira follows after him, shuddering when the door's effect washes over him. When he gets to the other side, he peers over the staircases' edge, towards the other doorway, and finds it glowing.
"Looks like we were both right." Panther chortles before sliding over the side of the staircase. Akira follows after her, hoping that the end would be just beyond it.
The doorway opens to another platform, this one was smaller than the others and turned sharply around a corner. Akira slides along the wall and listens intently, praying only the treasure would be around the corner.
The corner opens up into another hallway, golden like the museum they seemed to have abandoned. Madarame's face is printed into the walls with his name along every tile.
"It's close!" Mona whispers very loudly, making him jump. "I can feel it now!" The cat crawls between his legs and points towards the door at the end of the hallway.
"Finally." Skull sighs.
The door at the end of the hallways sweeps open silently and opens to a small, square room. Each wall has a large walkway and in the one across from the door he'd just walked through, Akira can see the treasure glowing faintly. Another sigh sweeps through him when he spots it. The relief at finding the treasure dissipates, however, when he notices that the treasure is locked behind a grid of lasers. Additionally, Madarame standing right in front of glowing blob, staring out at them, though it seems that the artist doesn't notice them at all.
"He's guarding it?" Panther whispers, stepping closer to take cover at the hallway's corner. "Kamoshida didn't do that, did he?"
"Do the treasures always look like that?" Fox asks, leaning over Panther to peer towards Madarame.
"At first," Mona explains, "But once we send the calling card, it'll materialize into the actual treasure."
"Doesn't it look darker than the last one, though?" Skull asks from the other corner.
"It might be because... um..." Mona trails off.
"You have no idea, do you?" Skull says shortly before Panther talks starts talking over him. "We can go now, right? We know where the treasure is and how to get it."
"Should we go now?" Panther suggests. "We know where it is and how to get there, not to mention we're exhausted."
Mona clears his throat, "Well, we do know where the treasure is, but the route isn't necessarily secure. See, over there? The treasure is heavily guarded, not to mention Madarame."
Akira peers around the corner. Madarame and the treasure are still there, almost in reach, but also a line of guards circling around the room that he hadn't noticed before.
Even if they managed to get past the lasers, there was no way they could escape with the treasure. They just weren't that fast.
"Maybe we should just head home..." Skull suggests quietly. "We'll be able to figure somethin' out tomorrow."
"How're you holding up, Fox?" Panther questions suddenly. "You must be pretty exhausted, huh?"
Fox rolls his shoulder, "I must admit, seeing Madarame like this has been quite taxing, but I don't mean to slow all of you down; I can keep going for a little longer."
"Joker?" Mona questions, turning back towards him. "Should we keep going?"
Put on the spot, he's not sure what to decide. He was tired- they all were- and if they managed to catch Madarame's attention, there wouldn't be much they could do to fight back. On the other hand, the palace would only grow larger and more guarded the longer they waited, more so if what Fox had revealed earlier.
"We should keep going." He suggest to Mona, who repeats it to the others.
Skull sighs, making him wonder if he was pushing the others too hard. "Let's get going then."
The five of them step away from the two corners and Akira leads them to the left, but finds it blocked behind another barrier. The other way leads into a control room, unlike the others, it has no guard. One wall is taken up by a large control panel, above it is a large window that gives them another view of Madarame and his treasure.
"There's only three options on this computer. And hey, look at that!" Skull says cheerfully. The computer screen makes his teeth shine brightly. "No password required!"
"Gates. Lasers. Lights." Mona reads off after climbing onto the panel. "Sounds like everything we need for a good heist."
"Let's open up the gates, but maybe we should wait on turning off the lasers and the lights until the real thing, just in case Madarame gets like, a new password or something."
"Sounds like a good idea, Panther." Mona hums, "I'm still concerned how we're going to get the treasure and get out. Even with the lights off, the shadows might still try to attack us..."
"Can they see in the dark?" Fox questions. The artist stares out the control room's window and doesn't look back at Mona as he responds. "I'm not sure."
Panther shrugs, "It's pretty dark in Mementos, and the shadows there seem to see us fine for the most part."
Akira wasn't sure either way, but hoped that they wouldn't have to put themselves in too much danger to change Madarame's heart; just getting to this point had drained them all.
Together, they sneak past the entrance hall and through the corridor that had been closed off. Like with Kamoshida's palace, a balcony opens up over it, but not close enough that they could sneak towards where the treasure is, not even considering the lasers and shadows guarding it.
The hallway spirals up into a room that looks nearly identical to the previous security rooms, only with no computers.
"What's this room used for?" Skull questions, "Kinda just looks like the one we just left."
"It looks like these machines control the mechanisms in the museum." Fox observes. The artist is leaning closely towards a tall machine that goes from floor to ceiling. "Given the number of hanging works, it makes sense to have a room dedicated to controlling them."
"He really thought out everything in his museum, huh?" Skull huffs, then murmurs, "It's kinda creepy, isn't it?"
"Well, he did have all those blueprints and documents about getting a museum, maybe his other half just remembered all of it and made this nightmare?" Panther offers. "It is really, really creepy though."
"Blueprints?" Fox questions, turning away from one of the machines to look back at her.
Panther flinches, but nods. "Uh, yeah. In his room, he had a bunch of documents about getting his own museum."
"Oh." Fox exhales.
The questions die down after that. Akira continues to look around the room, wondering if the machines might somehow help them. He doubted it, but the window shaped hole near the ceiling drew his attention. It held an opaque mist to it, like the doorways from before. This one glowed blue and Akira had no idea where it might go, so he didn't reach into it to find out.
"This looks interesting." Fox says suddenly, dropping a gloved hand on a switch just below the glowing hole.
"The cord goes into the next room, maybe it'll lift the treasure up?" Panther says hopefully.
"Probably not." Fox rebuffs quietly.
"Let's follow the cord and find out. It might still be useful for our operation." Mona recommends, gesturing towards a small ladder that leads up to an even higher room.
"I'll stay here, just inform me when you want me to pull it." Fox offers.
Mona leaps up first, not even using the ladder before he lands softly on the platform above. Akira follows after him and steps onto a thin platform that only leads to thinner platforms that are suspended from the ceiling by thin wires. The cord leading from the crank curves around the ceiling and disappear from sight.
"I'll uh, just wait here." Skull says quietly as Mona jumps onto the first strung-up platform.
"You're not scared, are you?" Panther snickers quietly as she steps past him.
"N-no!" He huffs. "Just hurry up, will ya?"
Akira sucks in a deep breath before he makes the first jump. It reminds him of jumping from Madarame's wall and onto the torii gates, except this time he was sweating and exhausted. The one after that was much easier and Akira joins his teammate in peering over the platforms edge.
It's here! He thinks instinctively. The treasure was right below the platform they were standing on. The feeling of relief that had died before seemed to swell back up inside of him.
"Joker." Mona whispers, a barely there whisper that he wouldn't have noticed if the cat hadn't grabbed onto his pant leg. "There!"
Akira follows the extended paw upwards and a claw falls into view. Extending from it, and leading back to the room they just left, was the same cord from before.
"Go ahead and gesture to Skull, Panther." Mona orders.
Moments later, the hook starts to lower from the ceiling. It creaks noisily on its way down and Akira catches Madarame and his guards looking in each direction trying to find the source of the noise. Akira feels his heart threaten to give out as Madarame looks in every direction except up.
"Tell him to stop!" Mona hisses back at them.
The hook retracts silently until it's hanging above them once again.
"Let's get back to the others." Mona suggests, twisting around and jumping back to where Skull was waiting.
"So, we gotta way in or not?" The blond questions as soon as they're all back in the room below.
"The hook is right above the treasure, plus there's no lasers on top of the treasure!" Mona laughs.
"Seems like quite a large hole in their security..." Fox points out.
"You say that like it's bad for us." Panther huffs quietly. "Anyways, can we go home now?"
"We've secured a route to the treasure, now we just need to send the calling card and come back." Mona lists off.
Panther leads them back through the entrance hall and back until they're back on the map of the museum. He's not even sure he should keep the maps at this point, there seemed to be an entire museum that wasn't on the pages they had, but he still uses them to track their path towards the entrance until they can safely re-active that MetaNav.
The pressure from the MetaVerse drops off like a physical weight, even as his clothes are replaced with different ones, he feels lighter, but at the same time, how drained he is catches up to him almost instantly, like he's been suddenly thrown into the ocean.
There aren't any goodbyes between the five of them as they separate for the evening. Akira sighs as he collapses into one of the train's seats and stares out into the darkened sky, grateful for the day to be over.
Cafe LeBlanc is dark when he steps inside of it, but he doesn't turn on any lights as he locks the door behind him and crawls into the attic. He's soaked in sweat and feels dirty, but doesn't feel like bathing. Instead, he crawls into the bed in the corner and finally falls asleep, not bothering to take off his shoes or to remove Morgana from his shoulder.
