Akane was silent and looking rather solemn as the meeting was concluded. She waved off her father, who reluctantly let her go, but I was concerned and followed. After following her up to the third floor, I managed to catch up to her right before she entered her room there. "Hey, Akane," I called to her. "Is something the matter?"
Her hand paused where it reached for the doorknob. "I'm fine. You don't need to worry about me."
I shrugged. "In that case, if you're up for it tonight, do you want to join my friends and me for one of our nightly Shadow hunting excursions?"
Akane's hand lowered, and she turned to me. "I would like that. Killing Shadows always was a good way to relieve some stress. Where's the meeting?"
"The alley across from Shujin's front entrance, at six," I told her. "If you don't want to reveal your identity, you can just come in your Rebel's Garb."
Akane looked confused for a second before the realization crossed her face. "Is that what we're calling our Phantom Thief clothes now?"
"Might as well. It's easier to say, and it's just as fitting, if you pardon the pun."
Akane allowed herself a small smile. "I'll see you then." Then she opened the door and disappeared into her room.
I allowed myself a little smile of my own. Hopefully the anticipation of tonight's excursion would provide her a little distraction from whatever had been bothering her. Either way, I would be there for her when she needed me. Who knows, maybe I would even unlock another bond.
When I made it down to the big room on the second floor, Futaba was waiting for me. "There you are, Kenzo!" she told me. "I didn't get a chance to do this at the meeting, but I hear you needed a couple of these."
Futaba held up a pair of wide metal rings with hinges and clasps that allowed them to be fastened onto one's wrist. A golden feather gleamed on the outside of each steel ring.
"Are those-"
"Yep!" she cut me off. "New and improved Shattering Shackles! Took me a couple all-nighters to put these together, but they're done now, and they have all the necessary features: ease of use, perception filters, Persona binding, dampeners to keep the Vanes in them from possessing anyone, all that good stuff! It'll take me a few days to make any more, so give me a heads-up ahead of time if you get any new members for your group."
A grin split my face from ear to ear. "I don't know how I can thank you enough, Futaba-chan!"
Futaba snickered. "Just call me Futaba. Unless of course, you want to call me senpai, since I'm your senior as a Persona-user."
My eyebrows knit. "That just seems wrong since we're in the same grade."
"Meh, technicalities. Wow, I feel like a mentor figure now. Anyway, if you'll excuse me, I have a TARDIS matrix to perfect. Hehe."
Futaba spun around and raced back downstairs, leaving me with the Shackles. I held one of them up, displaying the Vane of Order in it to my gaze. The scars in my right hand twinged at the memory. Rather ironic that little bits of a god that once challenged the Phantom Thieves were now mere tools at their disposal. Either way, our next hunting session would be interesting.
"You need more practice with that thing," Arisu told Shen flatly.
"Hey, I'm not that bad," he objected, cocking back the forearm with the crossbow strapped to it. "Besides, unlike a gun, I can load this with Spellstone! Watch!"
In one fluid motion, Shen yanked back the string, dropped a small chunk of Spellstone in place, whispered "Garu," under his breath, and hit the trigger at the back of the device. The string snapped forward, launching the glowing stone out of the mechanism at high speed. The stone dissolved into a green-edged gust of wind that smashed against the wall of the alley at the far end, leaving a visible mark.
"Don't waste that stuff, you idiot!" I barked at Shen, causing him to jump. "I only have so much to go around. Still, good job coming up with that idea. I never thought of that."
Shen grinned sheepishly and scratched the back of his head. "Sorry. We can get more of that stuff though, right?"
"Yeah, we can. By killing enough Greater Shadows."
Shen flinched again. Arisu stepped up, saying, "The night's not getting any younger. We should get going."
"Before we do that," I interrupted her, "a few things are going to be different this time. Firstly, we are going to be joined by someone."
Akane stepped out of the shadows, already cloaked in her Rebel's Garb. Shen and Arisu's eyes widened. "Greetings," Akane told them, removing her mask. "I'm Akane. I'm a first year at Shujin as well. You can call me Raven in the field."
Arisu studied the junior. "I'd heard the rumors that the first years received a new transfer student who shared a family name with the Phantom Thief Wolf…"
Akane smiled sheepishly. "Yeah. That's my dad."
"That is so cool!" Shen burst out. "It's like becoming a Phantom Thief is your birthright or something!"
Akane was starting to get a little anxious from the attention, so I stepped forward. "Alright, enough ogling. She's only about as experienced in this as me, and it's her first time hunting Shadows with a group closer to her age. So a little space if you don't mind?"
"Oh, right," Shen backed off. "Sorry."
"It's fine," Akane told him. "And I would appreciate it if everyone kept my identity hidden. I don't need all that attention."
"We won't tell a soul," Arisu swore. She glanced at Shen. "Right?"
Shen threw up his hands in mock surrender. "I swear! I swear!"
"In that case, let's move on to the second order of business," I continued, reaching into my bag and pulling out my claws before reaching in a second time to pull out the pair of Shackles Futaba had given me. "I commissioned these from Oracle of the Phantom Thieves of Hearts," I explained. "They're a Persona catalyst called a Shattering Shackle."
Both Shen and Arisu's eyes widened. "How do they work?" Shen asked anxiously.
"Well, let me explain," I began. "Once fastened onto a Persona-user's wrist, it can create an apparition of a chain and manacle bound to your wrist around it. Once this is pulled off and shattered, symbolizing breaking the chains that bind you, it allows you to summon your Persona. However," I paused, giving both of them a serious look, "there is something I should warn you about. These catalysts have a failsafe to prevent them from being stolen: I call it Persona Binding. Once locked onto a person's wrist, it becomes bound to their very soul and cannot be removed until that person becomes a Sage Class Persona-user."
Shen shrugged. "If that's all it is, we should be fine."
Arisu looked a little hesitant as she fingered her new rifle, but she nodded as well. "There is no issue."
"Very well then," I relented, handing each of them one of the Shackles. With a quick nod to the other, both of them simultaneously closed their Shackle around their arms, Shen his right and Arisu her left. There was a hum of blue light as the cracks sealed, and the Shackles became a single, unbroken ring of steel, interrupted only by the flash of gold that was each Shackle's Vane of Order.
Shen took a deep breath. "Okay then. Here goes." As he spoke these words, a blaze of blue appeared around his wrist, forming an ethereal manacle with shining azure chains linked to various points in the terrain, jammed into the ground, the wall, and even a nearby dumpster. Shen's eyes widened in shock as he tugged at them, first only with the chained arm, then with his other hand. "What the heck is this!?" he demanded.
"I'm not entirely sure," I began, "since this hasn't really been done before, but I have a theory." I touched one of the chains binding Shen's arm to the wall of the alley. It was solid, and had a strange feel to it, as though made of metal that was simultaneously both hot and freezing. "The chains linked to the Shackle here represent the things that are holding you back from Awakening. What you have to do in order to summon a Persona is break them."
"Break them how?" Arisu asked, tugging on a chain of her own. Her own Shackle had generated even more chains than Shen's.
Shen met my eyes with a grim look. Then a chaotic grin spread across his face. One hand wrapped around the azure manacle, and he started to pull with all his might. The manacle creaked and hissed as Shen strained against the meta-metal. "I don't care how many chains… are holding me back!" Shen grunted. "Limits… exist… to be broken!"
With one last shout, Shen pulled with all his might. The azure manacle finally shattered in an explosion of blue light, blasting the chains to pieces as well. A glowing blue being faded into existence behind Shen, a blue humanoid body wearing only a pair of rough drawstring pants, small bat wings sprouting from his back, and a hawk's beak in place of his nose and mouth. One foot rested on an upright bass drum, and the Persona brandished a wooden mallet in one hand and a sharp chisel in the other.
Shen had stumbled with the sheer force of his Awakening, but quickly righted his balance and looked up in awe at his Persona. "Leigong," he murmured in an awed voice, before breaking out into a bark of laughter. "The Chinese god of thunder. So this is what it feels like to have a Persona…"
Leigong looked down at him. I could almost hear it as Leigong's sonorous voice sounded in Shen's ears.
I am thou, thou art I.
Then the Persona vanished in a flare of blue light, and Shen collapsed to his knees in exhaustion.
"Whoa there!" I exclaimed, dropping to my knees to catch him in case he keeled over entirely.
Arisu beat me to it, catching him by one arm and bracing his back with the other. "Are you okay?"
"It's probably just exhaustion," Akane told us. "As far as I know, no one's ever gone through an Awakening without feeling absolutely wiped out afterwards."
"Ow," Shen groaned. "I think I pulled something in my hand…"
Arisu immediately gave him an exasperated look and smacked him in the shoulder. "Moron. What were you thinking?"
Shen grinned up at her. "Hey, it worked, didn't it?"
Arisu gave a sigh of exasperation, pinching the bridge of her nose with her eyes shut. "I swear, how can I not stay mad at you? You are incorrigible."
"You want to give it a try?" I offered, gesturing to her own Shackle.
Arisu looked down at it. "Not right now, I think. I want to work through this on my own for a little while, if you don't mind."
I nodded. "As you wish. Shen, are you good to go, or do you need a snack or a Dia?"
Shen took a deep breath and shook off his exhaustion. "Give me a second and I'll be as right as rain."
I shrugged. "Fine. There's one last thing that I wanted to address anyway."
Everyone looked at me expectantly. Taking a deep breath, I exhaled slowly as I concentrated my mind on Hephaestus. I remembered Igor's words from last night concerning my new ability. Magician's Flame.
While I concentrated, a little ball of light winked into existence at my feet. It slowly expanded and took shape, gaining a heavy block foundation and a horned metal head traced in the air out of azure light. In three seconds, the anvil construct was complete.
Everyone was stunned. Akane was the first to speak through her bewilderment, "I've never seen anything like that before!"
"Unsurprising," I said nonchalantly, rapping a knuckle on the very solid top before allowing the azure construct to fade. It had sapped a noticeable amount of energy to maintain. Hopefully I would be able to improve the ability's efficiency with time and training. "It's a new ability that I was granted last night, as part of my Wild Card status. It's called Magician's Flame. I have the ability to create constructs of hard light that are related to the Persona I have equipped. The more Personae I gain, the more constructs I can create, and the longer I can maintain them. Think it'll be useful?"
Shen started to laugh. "And here I thought trying out my new crossbow would be the most interesting thing happening tonight. You really do get a kick out of destroying other people's expectations, don't you?"
Ryouto let out a breath he didn't know he'd been holding in on seeing the subjects of his observation quietly step out of the alleyway. He'd almost forgotten he'd planned to track them again tonight and had worried they'd already be elsewhere. He didn't have time to wonder why however, because his three senpai were joined by a fourth figure this time, a girl in a black hat, coat, and mask, whose gaze darted around in search of threats and whose red-gloved hands fingered the short swords peeking out from under her coat.
Ryo shrank back in terror. Whoever that girl was, she had to be a Phantom Class Persona-user. There was no other explanation for a girl like her to be dressed that way while associating with Okuda-senpai's gang. Logically, he knew that the four of them probably wouldn't want to hurt him or anything if he was discovered, but there was still no stopping his brain from making up various scenarios of what would happen to him if he stepped out of hiding at the wrong time, each one more horrifying than the last.
Ryouto cautiously peeked out from his hiding place. The Shadow hunters were moving on, heading around the side of the school as they usually did, in search of Shadows. But then a little later, when they found a small group hanging out in the alley, something different was going on. Yang-senpai was stepping forward on his own…?
Then Ryo was filled with amazement as Yang-senpai made a motion as though he were pulling something off of his right arm, there was a shattering sound, and an ethereal blue humanoid figure with one foot braced against a big drum appeared behind him. The Persona beat the drum with a mallet, calling a thunderbolt that smote the largest of the lesser Shadows and reduced it to ash.
Ryo was in disbelief. Yang-senpai had a Persona now? But wait, that pulling motion. Okuda-senpai didn't have to do that. Ryo focused his gaze on Yang-senpai. There didn't seem to be anything different, but it had looked like he had pulled something off his right arm…
Ryo leaned out from his hiding place as far as he dared, trying to get a glimpse of what Yang-senpai had done. Something in the back of his mind kept diverting his vision, trying to convince him he didn't want to look. Ryo grit his teeth and focused all his will on Yang-senpai's right wrist and just barely caught a glimpse of a steel wristband adorned with a golden feather.
Ryo turned away and returned to his hiding place. That steel wristband had to be a Persona catalyst. Yang-senpai at the very least was now Hunter Class, maybe even Fukuda-senpai as well. The four of them had moved on however, so Ryo picked himself up and quietly followed. As they began to attack another group of Shadows, Fukuda-senpai took her usual station and began firing at the Shadows with her rifle. Ryo concentrated on her arms, hoping to catch a glimpse of steel and gold, but the feeling at the back of his mind was back, insisting he didn't want to look.
Ryo turned away again. She had a catalyst as well. That was all the proof he needed. Ryo sat down on the ground and considered what he knew so far. 1) Okuda-senpai's gang was gathering new members. He probably could ask to join them, but he was still too terrified to even let himself be seen by them. No. 2) Yang-senpai and most likely Fukuda-senpai as well now had Persona catalysts, and Yang-senpai could summon lightning. 3) Okuda-senpai's gang now had an unknown member who was Phantom Class. Did this mean he had contact with the Phantom Thieves? And where did he get those catalysts anyway? Did he make them or did someone else?
There were too many unknowns. Still, if there was one thing he recognized it was the golden feather he'd briefly seen attached to the catalyst on Yang-senpai's arm. The memory of that feather still unnerved him, particularly because it had reminded him of a similar object he'd noticed on his way home from school back when the Outbreak was still fresh in everyone's minds.
Ryo's eyes widened as the realization hit him.
"Night, man!" Shen called back to me, and I waved until he and Arisu turned the corner out of sight. I turned to Akane, who sheathed one of her ninjaken back under her coat.
"That was a fun excursion," she admitted. "And those two were really nice."
"Did I successfully distract you from whatever was bothering you?" I asked.
Akane blinked in surprise. "Nothing was bothering me."
"Back at the meeting," I reminded her. "I didn't want to press for answers when you hadn't had time to cheer up a little. So what was going on back there?"
Akane looked away from me and her Rebel's Garb dissolved. "I just… I don't know. When I first Awakened, and the Phantom Thieves said I could join them, it was like a dream come true, you know? They're my heroes, and suddenly I had all the same powers as they do, and I could fight monsters and evildoers just like they do, only…"
"Is it not what you expected?" I asked.
"In a way," she admitted. "You were there at that meeting. All of those people had a Persona, and there's so many of them. And they're not just ordinary people either. Celebrities like Risette, Naoto Shirogane, Yukari Takeba, and even Mitsuru Kirijo are Persona-users too. All of them have been doing this for far longer than me, they're all stronger, more trained, more experienced…"
I nodded. "It's a lot to live up to."
"I didn't even get to say anything at the meeting," Akane burst out. "Everyone's been doing so much without me that I didn't even have anything to add. I get that this isn't a game or anything and that all this stuff with the Shadows and that arms company is dangerous, but I just… I wish I could be more involved in what's going on."
"Hey, at least you were included in the meeting," I told her. "Neither of us really have anything to do with whatever's going to go down in Osaka this week, but they still invited us to the meeting to keep us in the loop."
Akane looked up. "Yeah, you're right. If we want to be able to contribute to the group, all we really need to do is get strong enough to contribute to those big operations." Akane frowned in concentration, tapping her chin with a raised hand. "Maybe I've been following the others too much, only doing what they've been asking of me instead of looking for things I can do on my own. Perhaps what I really need to do is figure out how I can be more independent, especially now that Joker and a few of the others are headed off to Osaka."
"That is true," I told her. "It's also fair to realize that we Persona-users are spread pretty thin. There were about thirty of us back at that meeting and over half of them aren't even here most of the time, they're off protecting their own areas. And Tokyo has almost fourteen million people. It's insane."
Akane gave a slight giggle. "Insane is the new normal, hm? Doesn't sound so bad to me. Though I do wonder…" she trailed off.
"Thinking of recruiting your own little group of new Persona-users?" I asked.
"Well we do need all the help we can get," Akane reasoned, "but the trouble is, I'm not a Wild Card, and I barely know anything about leading."
"That's why you have people to help you," I told her. "You have your senpai in the Phantom Thieves, like Ren-san and Makoto-san. And, if you want, maybe I could lend you a hand as well."
Akane looked up at me. "I think I would like that. Thank you, Okuda-san."
"Please, call me Kenzo. There are no honorifics between friends."
Her smile widened a little. "Sure, Kenzo."
And as I had hoped, Saraiah's voice echoed in my mind once again:
I am thou, thou art I...
Manifest hast been thine vow...
Reforge thy soul and seize thy future with thine own hands...
The birth of the Empress Arcana shall give thee the power to open thy wings to freedom...
"Just give me a call anytime you want to join in on our Shadow hunting excursions, okay?" I told her.
"Give me your number first," she laughed at me.
Monday morning, the people who would be joining the away team to Osaka were gathering clothes and supplies and preparing to make the six-hour trip in a camper van provided by the Kirijo Group, which Mitsuru had hoped would be less conspicuous than a massive limousine.
"I will go," Sophia was telling Ren. "I have no prior missions that require me to stay. And I want to find more Vanes of Order so I can gain a human body so I can eat sushi and ramen and takoyaki."
Ren gave her an apprehensive look. "You do realize that we have enough Vanes to do it by now, right? Futaba's just having a hard time figuring out how to transmute machinery into flesh."
"I still want to go," Sophia insisted. "I will also have more opportunities to talk to my cousins, Aigis and Labrys, and fight with them!"
"Okay, okay," Ren placated her. "You don't have to keep insisting over and over like that. If you want to come with us, you can come with us."
Sophia beamed and bounced up and down a little. "Really? Thank you, Ren!" Then she turned tail and ran for the door.
Ren smiled at her enthusiasm and followed. Makoto was waiting for him by the camper. "Are you sure you have everything you need?" she asked as he approached.
"Not quite," Ren answered, briefly putting down his bag. One arm pulled Makoto in for an embrace, and their lips met with passion. When the two of them parted, Ren told her, "I needed that."
Makoto punched him in the arm. "Just finish packing, dummy. You know what I mean." Ren laughed and went back inside to double check that he'd grabbed everything he needed from the Den. He had already double-checked his apartment.
Ryuji and Morgana were sitting across from each other at one of the booths inside Leblanc. Ryuji looked apprehensive, while Morgana's face was a mixture of begrudging acceptance and resolute defiance, as though he were still conflicted about something.
"So what did you wanna talk to me about?" Ryuji asked.
Morgana let out a sigh. "Well… argh, I'm not good at this emotional stuff. You like Lady Ann, don't you?"
Ryuji flinched. "Well, yeah, she's a great friend. The Phantom Thieves wouldn't be the same without her-"
"Gah, you know what I meant!" Morgana spat. Then he stopped and sat back down, the fire in him dying. "Look, I already know. Everyone does. You two have been into each other for a while now, and it is not subtle."
When Morgana paused, Ryuji asked, "So what now? You going to claw my eyes out or tell me I don't deserve her?"
"Don't even start with me!" Morgana's ears flattened against his skull. "Do you have any idea how hard it was to accept that the most perfect girl in the world could fall in love with a punk like you instead of me!?"
Ryuji didn't have a reply. Morgana calmed again. "I think… after we killed Yaldabaoth and I didn't become human… after that, I think I knew somewhere deep down that I would never be able to get it on with Lady Ann. I was stuck in a cat body for over two years for one. And even now that I finally look mostly human, I'm still separated from her and the rest of you not just because I still have ears and a tail, but also because I'm so young compared to the rest of you. I'm just a little kid, and Lady Ann just sees me as a cute little brother. Winning her heart was never possible for me."
Morgana's ears drooped sadly. Ryuji looked at the incarnation of humanity's hope with pity. "I was never that good at all that emotional stuff either," he admitted. "For all the girl-watching and date-hunting, I've never actually had a girlfriend before. Heck, for a while I barely even thought I ever could. So I'll be honest, I'm with you on that Morgana. The idea that a girl as amazing as Ann would even pay attention to a delinquent like me is ridiculous."
Morgana perked up a little at the self-derisive jape. "Yeah, probably not more ridiculous than Shadows and Personas appearing in the real world though right?"
Ryuji laughed for real. "You got me there. Nothing could top that, for real."
"Don't jinx us, you moron!" Morgana burst out, and then both of them were laughing. When their laughter finally died down, Morgana asserted, "Look, everyone knows by now that you and Lady Ann are into each other. And I'm going to be away with Joker in Osaka for I-don't-know-how-long. And by the time we get back, you'd better have made Lady Ann the happiest girl in the world, or you'll have me to answer to, got it?"
"You got it, man," Ryuji assured him. "I'll do my best."
"Good," Morgana appeared satisfied, and stood up to leave.
Ryuji called at his back, "You know, Morgana, you really do act like the little brother I never had."
Morgana glared back at him. "Watch it, bonehead."
"Don't call me that!"
Makoto had to break up the argument a few minutes later because it was time to leave.
