CHAPTER 7:

MEETINGS

"So, you think this owl can help you?"

"Yes. I don't know how she followed us, but she can lead us to Harry, I'm sure. Will you come with me?"

"…Honestly, I should say no, but you've been a bad influence on us. And it is Showa Day. Let's see if we can find him…"

Futaba Sakura yawned long and loud as she trotted down the stairs, ready to make a quick breakfast, fully dressed and freshened up. She was glad Sojiro had left to open Leblanc early. She was lucky she had crashed and slept for what had to be fourteen hours straight, and she knew she needed a bit more to catch up. Still, she had a bit of time before the arranged meeting with Akira, Morgana, and Harry.

But…could she venture out of the house? It wasn't her tomb any longer, not with the distorted desire to die within her Palace removed. But she still had many of the same hang-ups. Futaba had already been reclusive to a strong degree even before her mother was killed. Not quite as badly as she was after it happened, but she was friendless after that mess with Kana. Nobody wanted to be friends with the freak with Asperger's Syndrome and an eidetic memory. She had a tendency to speak her mind too, which didn't help.

Ever since her mother's death and the abuses of her relatives, even leaving her room was a trial she could only accomplish when Sojiro was out. Her fist clenched at the thought of her uncle Youji. For all that she was afraid of the man, she was also angry at the bastard. He had treated her worse than an animal, having her sleep on floorboards without a futon, not letting her bathe, and physically and emotionally abusing her.

Her Shadow, now her Persona, had shared the memories of her tormenting the Cognitive Youji, which satisfied her. She wasn't sure whether she wanted to do the same to the real deal, though. She was worried she would go too far. And to be frank, she wanted to forget the bastard, and hopefully, that huge portion of her inheritance given to him by Sojiro satisfied the fat fuck.

But now, while she still felt anxious about going outside, she felt much better about it. Maybe it was the bleedover from her Shadow speaking to Harry. Or maybe it was the fact that the topic of this meeting was going to be about the Metaverse and, potentially, her mother's research. So, plucking up every shred of courage she could as she ate breakfast, she decided to give it a go.

She almost didn't make it.

Morgana wasn't sure what to make of Harry Potter. The fact that the British teenager could understand him, as could the Futaba girl, was startling. Then again, what was almost as startling was how much Harry took things in his stride. Akira, that moron Ryuji, even Lady Ann took time to get used to the fact that Morgana was a talking cat, or at least a cat-like being that was a former human.

Still, the fact that Futaba had listed off so many things that Morgana thought were secret concerned him. Not to too great a degree, her reaction suggested someone who wanted to pool information. While Harry went to the toilet, Morgana had bearded Akira and warned him against revealing that they were Phantom Thieves, at least for now. Once Kamoshida's Change of Heart was confirmed, then maybe it might be an option. But they would reveal that they had been in a Palace, and Morgana wanted to discuss Mementos anyway.

Though what was that about the Velvet Room? It rang a bell with Morgana for some reason, but he wasn't sure why. He'd asked Akira about it, and he alluded to some sort of dream world where he was imprisoned by twin loli wardens (and Morgana wondered if that meant Akira was some lolicon with some bizarre fetishes, though given his reaction to Kamoshida's crimes, he doubted it), and that it was presided over by some weirdo with a big nose and a deep voice called Igor, but he wouldn't be drawn on the matter otherwise.

Oddly enough, Harry seemed to treat him like…well, not quite like a human. More like a person, albeit one who looked like a cat. It didn't hurt that his scratches were meow-vellous and purr-fect.

They heard a commotion downstairs, Akira reading a book as he waited, while Harry read another, one of the few English ones in Akira's possession. Eventually, the Chief brought up Futaba. "Remember, no funny business, you two. If you try anything, Futaba will scream for my help."

As Sojiro left, Akira muttered, "Good morning, Boss. How are you, Boss?" Out loud, he asked Futaba, who was breathing heavily, "Are you okay?"

"A little better n-n-now I'm here. Crowds are EVIL," she complained. "All those gazes on me…" She shuddered.

Akira chuckled. "Yep. Have you ever heard of Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds by Charles Mackay(1)?"

"Yeah, it was one of my mother's favourite books," Futaba said, her nervousness reduced a little by Akira's question. "Didn't think it'd be something you'd read, though."

"My mother is an English expat. She's a major bibliophile. Met my fath…I mean, the sperm donor in a library, before having a date here, before Sojiro bought it," he said, his expression becoming bitter. "But my mother was a lecturer in psychology. She told me about that book, it's quite good, isn't it?"

"Yeah, well, it sorta ties in with what we have to discuss with you." Futaba sat on the couch next to Harry, or rather, squatted on it. "That's part of what motivated me to g-g-get out of the house. 'Cause I wanted answers, and while I could've done it over the phone..."

"You're very brave, Futaba," Morgana reassured the shut-in. "I literally can't imagine what you've been through, and believe me, Akira and I have been through quite a bit. People are dismissive of those with mental health issues in this country, aren't they?"

"Yeah, the statistics in Japan aren't good," Futaba said, looking to Morgana. "Okay, so…where do we start?"

"I guess I should start. Did Sojiro ever mention how I was late for my first day of school?" Akira asked. Futaba nodded. "Well, if you know about Palaces, then you should know, I ended up in one myself. The Palace of one of the teachers at Shujin Academy…"

Harry got the feeling that Akira and Morgana were hiding things from them. Or rather, one major thing. However, they did explain that Akira and another student from Shujin (who had remained unnamed for now) stumbled across the Palace of a PE teacher called Suguru Kamoshida. The Shadow of Kamoshida believed himself to be the king of Shujin, his Palace literally taking the form of a medieval castle. He was also perverted and twisted, having Cognitions of male students tortured, and a harem of female students.

Akira met Morgana on his first sojourn into Kamoshida's Palace, where Morgana had been imprisoned by the belligerent Ruler. Both Akira and Morgana had Personas, the former having Arsène, after Arsène Lupin from the novels by Maurice Leblanc (the author this café was named for, apparently), while Morgana had Zorro, of all things. These two, along with a couple of their peers, had been investigating Kamoshida's Palace, looking for evidence of his wrongdoings in reality, as well as any clues as to Morgana's past.

Akira also brought up the Velvet Room, about how he was met by a mysterious entity called Igor, and a pair of kiddy guards, Justine and Caroline. Apparently Igor was the one to give Akira the Metaverse Navigator app. He also went on about things like preventing an oncoming ruin.

"Now, I should be honest, there's more to this story that we've not told either of you yet," Akira said, folding his arms. "I'm not sure whether to trust you enough about this. Not that you have much reason to trust either of us, for that matter. But I'm hoping this is the first step, and at the very least, we can cooperate. We're just waiting on something. So, can you tell us your own story? I don't care if you leave stuff out, as long as they're lies of omission rather than outright lies."

Harry and Futaba looked at each other, before the redhead said, "…I'll start things off. Until yesterday…I had a Palace."

"For real?!" Morgana yelped.

Akira looked at Morgana with a wry smile, despite his own clear surprise. "Did you just echo Ryuji?"

"As if I would echo that moron!" Morgana snapped irritably, before he returned his attention to Futaba. "But…how could a sweet girl like you have a Palace?"

"…My mother died in front of me, and some guys in suits read out what was probably a phony suicide note, to my face. Combine that with nasty relatives, and…" Futaba sighed. "Well, I had a LOT of self-loathing. Somehow, Harry ended up in my Palace, which is weird, as he doesn't even have a smartphone. My Shadow Self actually looked after him for a couple of weeks, keeping him safe, until somehow, I got that Metaverse Navigator app, along with a message, 'compliments of the servant of the Velvet Room'."

"…So Igor might have sent it to you?" Akira mused. "No, he called himself the MASTER of the Velvet Room, and Justine and Caroline are two people."

"So did you enter your own Palace? That should be impossible, and yet…well, you're clearly still alive and well," Morgana said. "But your Shadow Self helped Harry?"

Futaba nodded. "She was a bit creepy, but she was benign. The real threat was a Cognition of my mother, one that attacked us. We won with help from our own Personas. My Shadow Self transformed into a Persona. We then escaped. I felt like death warmed up yesterday, and I'm still pretty tired today, but here I am."

Morgana seemed to be deep in thought. Eventually, he shook his head. "It doesn't matter. You did well, Futaba, and you too, Harry. Resolving a Palace by yourselves can't have been easy. But how much are you keeping from us?"

"A little," Harry said. "Once there's some more mutual trust, we'll reveal more."

"I do want to reveal something, though," Futaba said. "My mother was working in a similar field, Cognitive Psience. That's with a 'psi' at the start rather than 'sci', that's important, as it was more of a form of parapsychology than a hard science, but it was closer to hard science than most parapsychology. So I know a little about this already. And I think someone somehow faked her suicide because of her research, maybe to exploit it."

"…Shit," Akira murmured. "You think someone assassinated her to steal her research?"

Futaba nodded. "In addition…yesterday, we learned about Mementos. The help function of that app claimed it was the Palace for humanity's collective unconsciousness, a sort of dark noosphere if I understand it correctly. What do you know about that, Morgana?"

"Probably a little more than you," the so-called not-cat replied. "I've been in there a few times to explore, but I could only go down a few levels before I hit a wall, both literally and figuratively. But apart from that, well, I probably don't know much more than you. All I can tell you is, it looks like a nightmarish version of Tokyo's subway system, infested with Shadows. Why do you ask?"

"…I tried searching for someone who might have a Palace. They don't, but they're somewhere in Mementos," Futaba said. "I'll leave it at that for now."

Akira seemed to be considering something, before he eventually spoke. "Like I said, trust isn't exactly in big supply on both sides, and I'm grateful you trusted me enough to tell me even this much. But I should warn you, it might not be a good idea to get involved with either of us for now. That being said…even if you don't join us, if someone is responsible for your mother's death, Futaba, I will try to find out who." His eyes briefly glowed golden. "And they will regret that."

"But you're on probation, Akira! That's almost as bad as Extreme difficulty on a Metal Gear Solid game! You so much as sneeze out of place, and it's over!" Futaba protested.

Akira looked to her, and gave a sad smile. "…Maybe. But helping others shouldn't be a crime." He stood. "Listen, I think we've talked enough. I'm heading to Shibuya with Morgana to do some shopping, maybe hang out with my new friends. But thanks for what you told us anyway. I'll talk to you later…"

"So, what do you think?" Harry asked as he sat with Futaba in the attic, Akira and Morgana having left.

"Oh, they're hiding something, but at least they have the courtesy to tell us. The thing is, I think what they're hiding has something to do with the Palace of Kamoshida. I think they're trying to do something to him via the Palace. If he really drove one student to attempt suicide, and abuses other students, then that might be enough. I'll do a bit of digging. Shujin has a few forums attached to it. That being said, Akira and Morgana don't strike me as being, well, nasty types. I mean, Akira could be faking it, but Morgana seemed to be frank. Even if he was hiding something and was not letting you know, he would probably show it anyway. If anything, they're probably taking revenge against Kamoshida. Just don't let on, okay?"

"Got it. You're rather fired up about this, though."

"Look, it's my mother's research, brought to life and vindicated," Futaba said. "I've been doing what digging I can, but…holy crap, this is real. I'm probably going to have to go back home and have one hell of a freak-out. I mean, I've spoken with more people in meatspace over the past couple of days than I have in over a year. I think I only managed it because I'm on a hell of an adrenaline high from yesterday, along with learning that stuff about Mom. But Harry…thanks for being there for me. I…you must've had more of an effect on my Shadow than I thought. I'm more comfortable being around you than…well, I'm fine with being around Sojiro again, but…well, anyway, I'd better make like a tree and leave…"

A few minutes later, Harry came down from the attic. Sojiro looked up. "So you finally emerged?"

"Yeah. Was Futaba okay leaving?"

"She seemed like it. She was kind of freaking out a little at the crowds, but thankfully, we don't have any customers at the moment. I'll see if I can have the local doctor make a house call. Her name's Tae Takemi. She's a bit of a quack, even mixes up her own remedies, but she's far better than her reputation claims. She's also a customer here."

"As long as she's competent," Harry said. "By the way, your English is very good. Why's that?"

"I used to work for the government. It's how I knew Wakaba. Of course, I'd rather leave it at that," Sojiro said. "But thanks for the compliment. I get quite a few tourists, mostly Americans, though they don't usually come to Yongen-Jaya. It's somewhat out of the way. People come here for a quiet place to have coffee."

"And curry? I've never really thought of coffee going with curry."

"Ah, now that's partly me. I like them both, and created a recipe that goes well with coffee. But after eating some, Wakaba took the recipe away and refined it. She was very much a Renaissance Woman, and one of her talents was amateur molecular gastronomy, applying science to cooking. There's a famous British cook, Heston Blumenthal, who…"

Sojiro was interrupted by the sound of the door opening. He and Harry turned, with Sojiro about to greet the newcomers, only for a snowy owl to fly in. "What the…?"

Harry stared in recognition as the owl landed on the counter in front of him. "…Hedwig?" But how could this be? Hedwig didn't go through the Veil with him, after all.

"I told you, didn't I? I told you we'd find him," spoke a familiar and oh-so-welcome voice.

Harry turned to find the figure of Sirius Black, a little less dishevelled, a little more careworn, but definitely him, standing with a pair of others. "…Sirius?" After a moment, he decided, just in case, "How did you get away from Hogwarts at the end of my third year?"

"Buckbeak," Sirius replied. "And who did you rescue me with?"

"Hermione. Oh God, Sirius…you…" Harry hurried over to him and hugged him.

After a moment, one of those with him cleared her throat pointedly. The throat-clearer in question was a woman in her mid-twenties, with a severe beauty and an equally severe suit. Her silver hair was parted to one side. Yet despite her stern looks, she was smiling at the reunion. Next to her was a brown-haired girl about his age or a little older, with a similar face, albeit softer, and the same mahogany eyes. "I'm glad to see your reunion, but perhaps introductions are in order. It's a pleasure to meet you, Harry Potter, after hearing about you from your godfather. I am Sae Nijima, and this is my younger sister, Makoto. And I believe we have much to discuss…"

CHAPTER 7 ANNOTATIONS:

So, Harry and Futaba have had a chat with Akira and Morgana…and now Sirius has returned…and with the Nijimas in tow. Oh dear…

Now, Futaba may seem a bit OOC here, due to her being fine having a conversation with Akira and Morgana in Leblanc, but remember, her interest has been piqued, and that's what helps. That, and Harry's presence helps too.

As for the Nijimas, this will be the start of a different character arc for them both. Makoto will be a presence in Akira's life long before the Kaneshiro arc (aside from being a would-be stalker/detective), and Sae has already had a wake-up call about injustice thanks to Sirius, though it'll take until the Kaneshiro arc for her to truly begin her change for the better in earnest.

Review-answering time! Some people have speculated that Akira's mother may be significant. She…isn't. I did idly consider making her an alternate universe equivalent to a Potterverse character like Hermione or even a female Harry, but I eventually decided against it. Akira is probably closest to a hybrid of the canon Akira/Ren, with elements taken from the manga, anime and a number of fanfics.

Have a Little Feith: I was under the same impression too, and it seemed to be made clearer in the manga. I thought that, since Harry ended up in her Palace about four months prior to it being resolved in the game, it meant there was less of that problem going on.

Ripplescales: TBH, Harry is not known for his treachery. Mordred is.

DanielJensen: Really? Admittedly, my knowledge of Persona 4 is limited, so I just thought it was just the Shadow Selves being the repressed desires and darker emotions of the people they corresponded with, not because they were inverted equivalents of the Arcana.

Aust Sakura Kryzor: Ehh, Carmen Sandiego may or may not end up being a Persona of another character. But Atlus probably would get in trouble from whoever has the rights now that Broderbund has gone down the crapper.

Gray Skyes: Well, that too, but even so, I still feel that both Johanna and Milady are bum notes. True, you could argue the same about Necronomicon, but Futaba Awakens her Persona under different circumstances.

Guest (regarding Futaba mentioning the Velvet Room): I didn't mess up. Futaba had received a message saying 'compliments of the servant of the Velvet Room' with the MetNav appearing on her phone. She mentions this in Chapter 3. It was meant as a sign that it was actually Igor who sent it to her, in order to help Harry.

Mugen-Muse: Youji never develops a Palace in the game, but you can have him undergo a Change of Heart regardless, as part of Sojiro's Confidant and within Mementos rather than a Palace.

1. This is a real life book from the 1800s about mass hysteria, economic bubbles, and hoaxes, amongst other things, and honestly, I think it's fitting for it to be referenced in a Persona 5 fanfic.