I do not own the Persona series or High School DxD. Everything belongs to their respected owners.

"Aww, yeah! We did it!"

Futaba let out a cheer as they all began to walk out of the church without their Phantom Thief clothing. Pumping her fists in the air, she also did a little dance while moving with the group of Devils and her fellow humans. Her cheerful movement seemed to be a tiny bit infectious as all of her teammates had smiles on their faces.

After knocking out all of the Fallen Angels, Dohnaseek made sure to find a way to bind Raynare, Kalawarner, and Mittelt. With a promise from the male, the Fallen vowed to make it back to the nearest meeting point for the him to take back his fellow race members to their leader. With a quick farewell, he dragged away the trio of unconscious girls out of the church and out of sight.

There was still the issue about being them being seen in public but that was their problem.

"This calls for a celebration! A celebration of both saving Asia-san but also the reboot of the Phantom Thieves of Hearts!" Futaba declared, pointing a finger in the direction towards Akira. "And I'm not going to take no for an answer!"

"We can't." Akira stated.

"…Okay." Futaba nodded her head in agreement. Looking around her, she saw that she was in the middle of several stares looking at her. Slowly inching towards Akira due to the attention, she only stood beside him and kept a leg behind him. "What? I wasn't going to take no for an answer. But he didn't say no. So, that's that."

Akira looked down to Futaba. "My bad. I meant that we can't yet." He rolled his neck, noting the stares he was receiving from Sona and Rias. Even Issei looked at them. But the male brunette had a look in his eyes that Akira was unsure what to make of it. "If we're going to have to celebrate, we should wait until Asia-san is conscious. We should also let her decide what it should be."

Ann looked over her shoulder and kept an eye on the sleeping for of Asia who was being carried on the fellow-blonde's back. "Yeah, it's only fair for that to be the case. Plus I'm pretty sure that everyone else is going to be excited. Which actually come to mind…" She looked over to Issei. "Do you want to come along as well when we celebrate?"

Issei blinked a couple of times after realizing that the attention was brought onto him. "…Me?" He asked in surprise, pointing to himself.

"Yeah, I mean, you were kind of involved with this as well." Ann reasoned, sort of shaking her own body due to her being unsure if it was good. "Plus, I bet Asia-chan would want you to join in as well. She'd be lonely without you."

"Oh! Can Koneko-chan come as well then?" Futaba skipped over to the white-haired female and wrapped her arm around the smaller girl's head. "She helped me fight Dohnaseek-san which unlocked my Persona!"

"…It would be nice." Koneko nodded her head, not seeming to be bothered by the fact that Futaba was gently pinching her cheeks.

"At this rate, why not invite Gremory-san and her Peerage then?" Makoto asked, grabbing the attention of the red-head due to her name being heard. "We're already inviting nearly half of the Occult Research club after all. Besides, I think it may be a good way to get closer and to know one another better."

"Is that a… good idea?" Rias asked, still keeping an eye on Akira but a bit more wary than usual. Surely with how he and she had been going at each other within this day he wouldn't do so. With Akira's attitude towards her, it was as if he didn't like her.

"I suppose." Akira answered.

"Wait, what?" Rias asked, putting a lot more force into the last word than there should have been due to surprise. "Why? Don't you hate me?"

"What gave you that idea?" Akira asked back, turning around while folding his arms and standing in place. He leaned against the gates of the church. Looking up in thought, it then hit him. "Ah… Those moments." He then waved dismissively. "Don't worry about that. While you could have approached the situation a lot better, you at least had a reason or two. Besides, it's probably wouldn't be fair if only Hyoudou-san and Koneko-san only were invited. Speaking of which," Akira turned. "Want in as well, Sitri-san? Your Peerage is welcome as well if they want."

"While your invitation is welcomed, the choice to accept it is debated at the moment." Sona stated coolly, not phased at the sudden question. "However, Akira-san, I need to have a talk with you. You are needed for this too, Rias."

Both characters stared at each other silently while everyone else seemed to stare. Akira blinked a couple of times. "Well?" He asked.

"…Privately." Sona added while holding back a sigh. She swore she saw the ghost of a smile on Akira's face as the boy stepped off of the church's property before turning around.

"Guys, I'll be a bit late. Go back home. Asia-san will have to stay with the girls until further notice." Akira planned out for his other Phantom Thieves. Seeing them nod their heads, the humans and cat all walked away while doing their best to prevent the sleeping blonde on Ann's back from waking up.

"Everyone, return back to your homes." Sona ordered and all of her Peerage did as they were told.

"You too, guys. Get some rest." Rias told her own Peerage.

Soon, all of the Devils were all gone as only the leaders of the groups were left standing in the middle of the sidewalk. "Right, let me cut to the chase since it is late." Sona folded her arms with her eyes slightly narrowed.

"Wait a minute, Sona." Rias cut her friend off. "I think I should be able to ask a few questions first." The red-head earned a look from the bespectacled-girl. "Don't look at me like that! You seem to know more about Akira-kun than I do! It's not fair!"

"…You are actually serious." Sona rubbed her eyes. "Fine, I suppose now that the cat is out of the bag you may question him-"

"Are you really a Phantom Thief?!" Rias cut Sona off before she could finish her sentence. Leaning forward, the red-head forced the male to lean back in response to avoid their faces being close to one another.

"Yes." Akira answered. "Can you please lean back now? I have work tomorrow and I don't want to go in with an injured back."

Looking down, Rias then realized how close she was to Akira as she stepped back for the boy to stand back up straight. It took her a couple of seconds, but then she realized that he was being rather nonchalant about him revealing his secret. Not only that, but Sona didn't seem to be surprised. "You're rather… open about that secret. Wait, does Sona know about that as well?!"

"I did just announce who the others and I were back in the church. Not only that, but Sitri-san figured me out some time ago as well." The male pointed out which earned him a hum of understanding from the red-head. He looked over to Sona, who seemed to be giving him a look that said to finish the conversation soon. "I'll allow one more question." He immediately stated.

"Can you get me all of your autographs?" Rias asked eagerly.

…Okay… didn't see that coming. "I'll try to remember." Akira said, that seeming to satisfy Rias.

Hearing a cough, Sona had a fist up while her mouth was just above it. "If I may remind you all of the reason I called you both out for this." She finally managed to get their attention again. "Now, Akira-san, I expect the truth from you."

"Without question." Akira nodded.

"Good." Sona replied. "How did you get that gun?" She gestured to his chest. But what she really was pointing out was the gun that would be hidden in his jacket if he were wearing his Phantom Thief costume. "That pistol has the presence of Lucifer-sama and even some residue of his power. How is that possible?"

"With a Persona." Akira answered her question.

Sona frowned while Rias wore a confused expression. "With a Persona…" Sona trailed off. "…I thought your Persona was Arsene."

"He is." The black-haired male nodded his head in confirmation. "But who said that I had only one?"

The black-haired girl raised an eyebrow. "You have more than one Persona?" She asked. "From the explanation Rias told me from Morgana-san, I thought people can only have one Persona."

"I'm a special case." Was his reply. "And with…" Akira trailed off, thinking about if he should mention the Velvet Room or not. Nah, that would lead into another wide conversation that wouldn't be of any use except to satisfy curiosity. "Various methods, I used a Persona of Lucifer to create a gun from his very body and energy."

Sona opened her mouth, but then closed it shut. "That is perhaps the best, most simple yet complicated answer I think I'm going to get from you for the time being." The girl massaged her forehead to prevent a headache from incoming.

"But I have to ask," Rias voiced out. "Why did you have to keep yourselves a secret? I already revealed myself as a Devil to you before. But then you never said anything about me being a Phantom Thief."

"Gremory-san, no offense, you should use your head for a second." Akira raised a finger. "If I ever told you my real identity, there was a chance you would immediately ship me off to the police. While I've already had that issue with the officials already, it's a process I don't want to go through again."

"…I suppose that is something you wouldn't want to risk." Rias nodded in agreement.

"Not only that," Akira added. "But then there was also having no knowledge about your side of the coin. We kept ourselves secret because you kept on revealing your cards to me. While it could be a good strategy in some cases, it doesn't apply to many scenarios as information is leverage for situations."

Rias looked away. "Now you're just being mean." She sighed, placing her head against the palm of her hand. The three of them were silent once more. But it only lasted a couple of seconds before Rias spoke once more. "…Thank you for saving Issei-kun's friend." She slowly let out. "And… I'm sorry about those times we interacted with one another today. I was… just trying to keep my Peerage safe."

Akira released a small, reassuring smile. "Apology accepted. It is tough having to be the leader and having all the decisions fall onto you." He said. "So, does that mean that you want to go to the celebration party when the time arrives?"

His question made Rias huff in amusement. "Still on about that?" She giggled afterwards. "Of course. I look forward to meeting the rest of the Phantom Thieves. Bye, Akira-kun. See you at school."

With a wave, Rias disappeared with a flash of red.

Staring, Akira slowly looked over to Sona. "Was that teleporting necessary for her?" He asked the girl.

"It is a fast way to arrive to a location already set." Sona answered. Looking up and down the boy, she hummed. "Can you amuse me for a few moments? There's something I need to confirm at the moment."

Akira looked at his phone. Meh, it was getting close to dinner time but he could wait. "Sure." He nodded while placing the phone back into his pocket.

Sona closed her eyes and didn't open them. "I want you to try to move around and hide your presence." She didn't hear him move, probably because he was raising an eyebrow at the weird request or he was really moving quietly. But still, she stayed still for a few moments. "Stop." She ordered, thinking for a few seconds. But still, she had her face frown for a bit. "Over there." Pointing in a direction, she opened her eyes to see that she was indeed pointing at the boy.

"What are you doing?" Akira asked curiously, not wanting to be left in the blue.

"Testing a theory out." She answered. "Now put on your Phantom Thief clothing." Seeing a flash of blue and Akira in his outfit, she closed her eyes once more. "Now move around again." Once more, she focused on him moving around. A frown was etched on her features soon after as she sighed. "No, I cannot sense you." She shook her head as she opened her eyes, seeing that Akira hadn't even moved from his spot.

Akira tilted his head, blinking. "But you could sense me when I was in my normal clothing, correct?" He asked, earning a nod. "So that would mean that the Phantom Thief clothing hides my presence. Probably implies that is the same for everyone else."

"Not only that…" Sona said slowly with a thoughtful look, eyeing his chest. "I can't seem to sense that gun on your Persona with Lucifer-sama's aura. Do you mind pulling it out?" Watching Akira reach into his coat and pull his pistol out, she took a deep breath. "Right… Now put it in your pocket." Sona then waited for Akira to do as she was told.

"There's a bit sticking out." He noted.

"And I can only feel a bit of that power." Sona observed, tapping her chin. "It seems that I was correct in a sense. Your clothing even can mask the energy of those weapons and also to an extent when not in use. No wonder I could not feel much of a presence when Morgana-san kept that sword and item on his person."

Akira only looked down at himself. It kind of did make sense. Whenever exploring Mementos or even Palaces the Shadows would flat-out ignore or not see them when they were close by. "Useful to know." Akira commented to himself.

"You're welcome." Sona felt her glasses slipping down due to moving her face around a lot so she had to readjust them. "You said that your pistol was created from a… Persona Lucifer? It makes me curious… are all of the weapons that the others use from other Personas?"

"That is correct." Akira nodded his head.

"…" Sona stayed silent, staring at Akira as she began to think. "So you have not only made bombs, but also a variety of weapons…" She trailed off. "You must have had to prepare for many things as a Phantom Thief."

"Sort of a part of the job description." Akira shrugged his shoulders. "Especially when it came down to exploring the Metaverse."

"Hmm…" Sona hummed. "You are just becoming a much more curious case… or a massive incoming headache with one surprise after another."

"You have no idea." He shook his head as he looked back at his phone to see that it was about an hour past dinner. Oh well, he will just have to go out to eat. If that's the case… "It's kind of late. Want to grab something to eat with me?"

The student council president raised an eyebrow at the question. "That is something rather out of the blue." She said. "But I suppose it is an act of goodwill from you. I accept your invitation."

"Speaking of invites, still thinking about coming along for the celebration we're going to have?" Akira asked as he gestured the girl to follow him down the streets while changing back to his school uniform.

"Depends on the date when the event is happening." Sona answered as they continued along the sidewalk.

With conversations between, the night was filled with pleasant interactions.

TakeABreak

It was a bit late when Akira had made it back home.

Checking his phone, he saw the numerous amounts of texts that he had received. Wow… he had missed a lot of them. Talking with Sona must have occupied much more of his attention than he had anticipated. He had to remember to apologize as he saw lights on in the girls' apartment.

Knocking softly on the door, the barrier was soon opened up to see Haru answering it. "Ah, Akira-chan." The heiress smiled to the black-haired boy. "You're back."

"Yeah… Sorry about not answering any of you guys." He held up his phone just in case they didn't know what he was talking about. "Speaking with Sitri-san was a lot longer than anticipated. Can I come in?" He peeked inside.

"Of course." Haru nodded as she stepped out of the way for the boy to move in. "Everyone else is here as well." She placed a finger to her lips. "You may want to be a bit quiet as well. Asia-chan is still resting."

"She must have been quite exhausted with the attempt of her Sacred Gearing almost being removed." Akira stepped past Haru as he entered the apartment to see everyone gathered around the couch where Asia was sleeping on. There was even a pillow and blanket for the girl as she was sleeping peacefully.

"Ah, you're back." Yusuke commented as he looked up to see Akira arriving.

"Where were you?" Ann asked. "I hear that Sitri-san can have conversations go on for a bit but that seems a bit ridiculous if she kept talking for that long."

"Not really." Akira shook his head. "She just had to ask a couple of questions as well as confirm something that is great benefit for all of us. Then we both realized it was late when she finished and then we both went out to eat."

"Is that so?" Yusuke asked, looking up and down at Akira. "If you say that thing she was on about is beneficial to us, then I shall believe you."

"Come on, when has our leader ever failed us?" Ryuji commented, placing his arms behind his head in a bit of a way to relax. "But dude, no wonder you didn't answer our texts. You were out on a date with the student council president!"

"Shhh!" Ann shushed the blonde male in a quiet yet harsh manner. "You're going to wake Asia-chan up!" Her hisses fortunately didn't wake the former-nun up as all the person lying down did was mumble a bit. "I'm pretty sure that it was just meant that they're good friends already and had a few things to talk about as well."

"There were some things indeed." Akira nodded his head in confirmation. "Although you could also say it was technically a date without her knowledge… or she didn't acknowledge it as such."

"Hah! Told you!" Ryuji commented being cuffed on the back of the head.

"Shut up!" Ann whispered.

Makoto sighed. "I'm honestly surprised to see is up and about considering the amount of action we had gone through just now." She said.

"That fight was more of a nuisance rather than a tough battle." Morgana stated as he stared at Asia from the table. "That exorcist jerk was taken out from a single Agidyne while the Fallen Angel I faced wasn't that strong but more durable than the average Shadow."

"Akira and I meanwhile had to struggle against two of the Fallen Angels who would be considered the strongest out of their group while their wounds would constantly be healed." Makoto noted. "But as Morgana said, they weren't that bad."

"From what we can tell though, they are merely nothing more than grunts." Futaba commented. "Remember that there is still the leader and we don't even know how strong they are."

"Aww come on, we made a point that we aren't going to just attack them." Ann waved her hand. "I'm sure that they won't take offense to that."

"But dude, I heard you made some kind of epic speech just before you took all of those Fallen Angels out with an all-out attack." Ryuji brought up.

Yusuke seemed to chuckle. "Considering how you must have come up with that on the spot is impressive. Not only that, but it was certainly a way to let our place be known within tier community now that we're choosing to reveal ourselves."

"You should have heard it in person." Futaba held her fists up in excitement. "He was all like…" And then she began to make her own silent impressions while striking all sorts of poses while everyone watched her and chuckled or giggled at her antics.

"But yes, we are indeed going to be big considering how the Phantom Thieves were known throughout the world. If news of us coming back up reaches the Fallen Angels, who knows how much farther it will go." Yusuke began to wonder.

"Then we just have to get ready for the oncoming battles!" Ryuji remembered to whisper at the last moment to not be scolded again.

"But that makes me think that we ourselves will need our Personas." Haru spoke out from the side. "Only Ryuji-kun, Yusuke-kun, and even I need the opportunity to unlock our Personas. But…" She trailed off, unsure if she should finish her sentence or not. "…That would mean that we're putting ourselves in danger if we do. I really don't want any of us to be hurt."

"Hey, that's when we choose to leg it." Ryuji answered. "It's okay to be scared or what not to do. It just gives us another opportunity to come back with more confidence or time to think about what to do." He gently patted Haru on the back. "Just know that when times are tough… there's still us to support you."

"…That last sentence was completely out of the blue. But still a nice bit of speech from you, Ryuji." Ann gave her own opinion, getting a small grumble from the male-blonde who still smiled a bit in return.

It then hit Akira. "Oh right… Gremory-san wants our autographs."

With that reveal of information, everyone turned to look at the leader of the Phantom Thieves. Ryuji, Ann, and Futba all had their eyebrows raised. Yusuke had a curious stare. Haru had her mouth open, thinking about something to say. Makoto had a blank look.

Morgana meanwhile blinked. "I guess that means she's a fan. Huh… go figure."

TakeABreak

"Can I have your autographs as well?!"

Just as Akira had handed the paper over to Rias with all of their signatures on it, he heard the voice. Ignoring the excited look on the red-head's face, Akira just settled for looking at Issei who looked pretty eager as well.

"Oh wait, even better! Can I have individual photos of you guys and have them signed?! Ann-senpai looks really good in that skin-tight suit of hers!" The brunette even added.

"…That's going to be up to Ann if that's the case." Akira said.

"…Damn."

TakeABreak

"Guys, this is supposed to be our apartment, right?"

Ryuji looked over to see everyone else just standing in front of the property that was supposed to be the building that they were living in. Even Asia was among them since she had no place to go and Ann offered the fellow blonde-girl to stay with them for the time being. Everyone else seemed to be staring at the massive building as well as Ryuji simply turned back to look at what they were seeing.

The building was big… still as big as the building that held all of their apartments. But then there was only one door among the entire building on the outside. The color was re-done, the paint-job given to the building being a combination of black and red. Windows lined the outside in a neat and orderly fashion. But then… there was an actual garden was laid out at the front around a green lawn.

Slowly walking along the walkway that led them to the entrance, they kept on giving each other weird looks. "Maybe the owner had some renovations done?" Ann asked in an unsure tone.

"I doubt a job like that for an entire building could be done within the span of school hours." Makoto confirmed.

Arriving to the front of the door, Akira looked down to the knob and saw that there were a couple of keyholes. He then realized that they were locked out at the moment since the keys may have been changed with the building. Eyeing a doorbell along the frame, Akira looked back to everyone who seemed to be having curious yet cautious looks of their own.

The leader of the Phantom Thieves then rang the doorbell.

A few seconds passed before a tall man answered the door. His build was actually average with hair that was black but then gold was the color of his bangs. His real hair color though was confirmed with the sight of the black goatee. He wore a large, red-purple jacket with the collar turned up with four straps wrapped around each arm near his shoulder then wrists and two around his stomach and waist. His pants were dark grey with two straps on both legs around his ankles with brown dress-shoes.

"Ah, hello there!" The man greeted with a friendly smile. "So you must be the Phantom Thieves. Dohanaseek told me about you guys and what my subordinates had done to you as well. So I worked on your apartment as an apology." He shrugged. "Well, more like house now since it's all yours. Let me tell you, paying off, organizing places for the people to move, and finish this entire place within a span of 6 hours was really tough. But, if I may brag, this is probably one of my proudest achievements yet! Oh, I haven't even introduced myself yet! The name's Azazel, leader of the Grigori. Come on in, makes yourselves at home! Especially since it's yours to begin with."

"…" Akira slowly looked over to his friends who were also staring at this new Azazel character with surprise. Within a flash of blue flames, he was in his Phantom Thief costume while holding Paradise Lost up. "You guys want me to stick him?"

Not the greatest chapter, but there were a couple of things as I re-read my chapters and made me think a bit and had to talk about an issue I thought about and that may come into effect later in the future.

COMPLETELY UNRELATED NOTE… Blazblue Cross Tag Battle! Blazblue x Persona x UnderNightInBirth x RWBY! I am not sure if I liked the Blazblue part… it's a fun game and all but some of the characters just get to me while I love others (Might be from the fact that some moves and people are broken and ASW pretty much just ignores the game after they release it). CHECK OUT THE TRALIER ANYWAYS! It's the PersonaxRWBY crossover we've all MAYBE been looking for in reality! I'm just going to pretend everyone else in that franchise are just OCs.

Hope they throw in P5 characters for the fun of it. But it looks like they're just going to reuse character sprites and animation for the entire game so far…

No flames please.