Miss Violet: And I am back with a new chapter. I hope you guys treated Blues well. Hopefully, he'll be back again soon. Now, hear that bell? That means it's time for class.

Persona V: Reversing the Wheel of Fate
Chapter Sixty-Two

[Opening Scene: Brothel of Fraud – 55th Floor (
Theme of Battle (Second Wind): A Lone Prayer from Persona 1 (PSP Ver)]

"I will now allow you to take what is rightfully my mothers!" The Woman Who Brings Ruin screamed as Haru smirked and hoisted her battle ax onto her right shoulder.

"My, my, such a loud opponent," Milady taunted. "I think it's time we teach this mockery of your beloved some manners, Haru-Hime."

"I believe you're right, Milady," Haru stated, her tone cold as she gazed upon the Woman Who Brings Ruin. "Shadow? I hope you enjoy screaming because that will be the last thing you ever do. After all, I'm going to make you scream an apology."

"Apology for what?" The Woman Who Brings Ruin questioned.

"Fox existing," Haru answered, as she tapped the pole of her ax against her shoulder and then charged at her opponent.

The shadow smirked and shouted, "Charging so recklessly will cost you everything! Bufula!"

A large shard of ice flew from the shadow's hand at Haru, who skidded to a stop, moved the ax off her shoulder, and cleaved through the shard of ice, causing it to explode into snowflakes. "Try harder! Milady!"

Milady lifted her mask and laughed as her Gatling guns went off, sending dozens of bullets toward the shadow. Woman Who Brings Ruins flew high into the air while avoiding the hail of bullets that followed after her.

The shadow performed a u-turn, pointed her right hand at Haru, where ice began to crystalize around her fingertips, and shouted, "Mabufu!"

Woman Who Brings Ruin fired the shards of ice at Haru, who smirked and managed to slice through all five of the ice bullets. She then pointed at the shadow and shouted, "Not good enough, Psy!"

Milady swung her fan in the direction of the shadow, sending streaks of yellow, magenta, and cyan energy at the flying shadow, where they then swirled inward and collided with the Woman Who Brings Ruin's chest, causing swirls of three colors to briefly appear before they were wiped away by a white ring.

The shadow's wings flipped rapidly as the shadow attempted to remain in the air, her eyes swirling in confusion. "W-What happened?" The shadow asked, her voice distant and unsure.

"Fire upon her!" Haru shouted.

"This will be highly entertaining," Milady laughed, as she pointed her Gatling guns up at the confused shadow and fired, sending the bullets piercing through the shadow repeatedly.

Woman Who Brings Ruins screamed in agony as Haru grinned and taunted, "Apology accepted. Now, it's time to finish this."

Haru then jumped back into the air, performed a backflip, and then landed on Milady's fan. "Fly, Hime," Milady softly commanded as she launched her fan forward, sending Haru high into the air above her opponent.

Haru jumped off the fan but grabbed the bottom of it, and in tandem with her ax, she swung them both down cleaved through the shadow from head to toe. As the shadow let out its death, Haru fell to the ground on one knee and tossed the fan back at Milady as she said, "Finish her, if you may, Milady."

Milady caught the fan and fanned herself as she laughed, revealing her Gatling guns one more time. "Yes, time to end this farce of a battle," Milady stated as she fired her guns tearing through the remains of the shadow.

"And that—" Haru started as she turned her body, bent her head forward, placed her right hand on her hat, and moved her left arm in the air, where she finished, "—is that!"

(Theme of After the Battle: Battle Result from Persona 2: Eternal Punishment)

Suddenly, the shadow exploded into ethereal rose petals, which caused Haru to jump from her finishing pose, only to giggle in surprise as the rose petals fell around her.

"That was amazing!" Panther shouted as she ran up to Haru, with Joker's arm around her shoulder.

"Yeah, you handled that thing with a shocking amount of violence," Mage added as Fox floated to his left and Hifumi floated to his right.

"You guys got them out," Haru stated with a relieved smile.

"Not without trouble," Panther noted with a tired smile.

"You were fantastic, Haru-Hime," Milady stated, which caused Haru to turn and look up at her persona.

"Only because of you, Milady. Thank you for finally opening my eyes," Haru replied. "I never felt so powerful in my life."

"You always were," Milady tenderly replied. "It was just a matter of helping you see that." Haru gave her persona a watery smile, touched by her Persona's words. "Now, I believe you must hurry and flee as fast as you can. I can hear the fluttering of wings heading from the higher floors."

The trio nodded and ran off as Milady exploded into ethereal pink petals behind her.

[Theme of Brothel of Fraud: Club Zodiac from Persona 2: Eternal Punishment]

As the trio ran, Haru got in front of the duo and said, "Stick behind me, I'll protect you all."

"Where exactly are we going?" Mage asked.

"Back to the safe room," Haru answered, as she lifted her ax into her arms.

"How? Your earlier stunt destroyed the glass floor in the hallway leading to the safe room," Panther reminded.

Haru blinked.

Oh yeah, she had completely forgotten that her entrance had destroyed their way to the next floor. "Um, Mage? Do you have enough to—"

"—Get to the safe room?" Mage finished with a laugh. "Luckily? I have just enough to do it. After that, I'm tapped out."

"Well, let's hurry because I'm starting to hear what Milady did," Panther told him.

"Lady Eilistraee: Goddess of the silvery moon, please heed my call," Mage dutifully recited.

An ethereal blue moon appeared above Mage, only for it to quickly go through the moon phases to become a crescent moon until Eilistraee made her appearance known the light from the moon formed her body.

Eilistraee lifted her blade as her hair glowed a bright white light, causing the group to float above the ground as she said, "May the gentle light guide you: Magravkaja."

Haru squealed in both excitement and panic as her feet dangled over the ground. "We have to worry. Just think of flying as walking in a direction," Mage instructed as he skated into the air, followed by Panther, who flew after him.

Haru nodded and propelled herself higher into the air with a yell until she flew beside Panther and behind Mage. The trio flew to the hallway of the 56th floor, opened the door to the safe room, and floated inside.

[Scene Change: Takao Residence (Evening)
[Theme of Relaxation: Break It Down from Persona 5]

"Thank you for walking me home, Niijima-san. You didn't have to, but I appreciate it," Eiko murmured with her hands clasped on her lap as Makoto stood at the bottom of the stairs that led to Eiko's residence, which was the same building Haru resided in, shockingly enough.

"Hey, considering all that we had to handle today, getting you home safely was the easiest thing," Makoto replied with a small smile.

Eiko nodded and then bit her lower lip.

"I….um…." Eiko mumbled. "I said it earlier, but I really want to repay you for helping me today. I thought so poorly of you, and yet you stuck your neck out for me, and saved me." Eiko then took a deep breath and said, "I want to help you with whatever you need. No matter the time or the place, you'll have my help."

Makoto smiled at Eiko's kind and determined words. "And as I told you earlier, there is no need to repay me. But if truly want to, I won't stop you," Makoto told her.

Eiko nodded and then looked at the horizon behind Makoto. "Well, I better get inside. The sun is setting. Will I see you at school?" Eiko asked.

"You sure will," Makoto confirmed as she felt her phone vibrating in her pocket.

"Great! I'll see you then, Niijima-san! Goodnight!" Eiko chirped. Makoto watched as the girl unlocked her door and walked into the complex.

Makoto chuckled and pulled out her phone as she started to walk away. When she got her phone out, she saw a familiar name on the screen.

Ren.

Without any grace, Makoto answered the phone and said, "Ren! You're out!"

"Well, hello to you too, Niijima," Takamaki's voice answered, which rained on the excitement that Makoto had felt. But despite that, Makoto was excited, as this meant that the rescue mission had been successful.

"Well, great," Makoto voiced. "Seeing as you're calling from Ren's phone, that means the mission was a success?"

"Yeah, it was," Takamaki answered. "However, things still went sideways. We're on our way to Haru's place. Mind meeting us there?"

"Sure. I'm actually outside her building right now, but why not meet at the Crazy Diamond?" Makoto inquired.

"Because after today, she just wants to sleep in her bed," Takamaki answered.

Makoto couldn't blame Haru there.

"Oh, hold on, Haru wants to talk to you," Takamaki informed.

A few seconds later, Haru got on the phone and said, "Hey, Makoto-chan. We're almost there. If you want to go in now, just go to the front desk, tell them you're a guest of Okumura, and then enter 12598 as the door code, and you're in."

Makoto nodded, only to realize that Haru wouldn't see that, and quickly said, "Alright. I'll meet you guys there. Is there anything else you want me to do?"

"Yes. I'm seconds from passing out. The rescue mission was long and brutal in a lot of ways. Do you mind placing a large order of food from Big Bang Burger?" Haru asked. "I know that Ren, Yusuke, Hifumi, and Ryuji will be resting, so I want to have a large amount of food for us all when we awaken."

"Sure," Makoto answered. "Is there anything specific you need?"

"No. Maybe thirty Big Bang Burgers, ten Venus Salads, twenty-five Saturn Fries, twenty-five Mars Chicken slides, nine pluto-shakes with cheesecake and graham cracker chunks, and fifteen asteroid nuggets, both regular and mars-flavored," Haru finished. "Tell them the address and tell them to put it on the Okumura Princess Tab."

'I'm starting to feel like a receptionist,' Makoto thought with a joking tone.

"A perfect job for someone like you, Useless," Shadow Makoto taunted within her mind. "Following orders like a good puppy. It's so….you."

Makoto's jovial mood dropped but she ignored the jab from her shadow. Instead, she said, "Alright, I'll get in there and order that for you guys."

"A-Are you alright? You sound down all of a sudden," Haru stated with concern.

Makoto perked up her voice and said, "I'm good. I just had a bit of a long day myself. I just need some food and some sleep, and I'll be okay. Promise."

Haru hummed and then yawned, "Okay. Thank you for doing this. I owe you several," Haru drifted off.

Takamaki's voice came back on the phone. "Alright, we'll see you in twenty," Takamaki said.

"See you in twenty," Makoto replied and then hung up her phone. She let out a breath and decided to get started with getting into Haru's place and ordering the food.

But her mind couldn't help but wonder.

What happened during that rescue mission?

Miss Violet: And that is the end of this chapter. The mission was successful and the fallout will happen in the next chapter or two. After that? Well, I think it's time to wrap up both palaces. Class is dismissed.