Persona is now officially one of my favorite series. I even got the first three mangas of Persona 5, and the first of Persona 3!
Side Note: ...talking with these characters before making these chapters is somehow therapeutic. And while I was listening to a song before writing this chapter and plotting I actually cried (the date was 8/1/21, late at night close to midnight, since the actual beginning of this chapter was written later in the hour of 1 am on 8/2/21, and yes this chapter was being plotted for that long). Not much can get me to cry nowadays both then and now so that's what caught me off guard…
Damn Mina… just fucking damn…
Chapter 13: The Other You
"-and that is how one is to properly execute their duties as a hero," Stain finished as he taught some of the 1A, 1B, and several other students which included Shinso, the three from Shinketsu, Toga, Spinner, Dabi, and for some odd reason Kota. "That is what I believe heroes should do in society versus what certain heroes-" he coughed abruptly and muttered the name of Mt. Lady for an understandable reason, "are doing, including doing it for popularity, money, and power in the social ladder."
"You tell 'em Stain-Sensei!" Spinner commented in agreement, with Dabi nodding vigorously.
"Maybe we'd oughta get Stain as a Teacher's Assistant for the Heroic Basics class," Present Mic said to Aizawa and Nezu, the chimera creature nodding in response.
"It's a good idea! The only downside is he's a murderer and it'd take a year of petitions and paperwork for him to be let out in general," Nezu replied, before pulling out a piece of cheese and eating it while sitting in Aizawa's scarf.
"You know you can have your own seat, right?"
"But this is arguably the best seat in the house!"
Aizawa scoffed in annoyance, before everyone heard the door to the outside world open and Lego waltzed into the theater while stretching and rubbing his eyes.
"It's been waaaaaaaay too long you guys," Lego commented as he started descending the steps to the front row. "Luckily the remote should stop by in a short bit and we can watch the next world, which is a personal pick of mine since I've taken an interest in the original series, as well as the fact it was requested in the reviews."
"So how long do we have?" Kaminari asked the Quote-on-Quote "God".
"A few moments," Lego replied.
"In that case!" Mina sat down next to him and smiled. "Tell us about yourself!"
"Huh?" Lego was honestly confused. "What?"
"Tell us about yourself! We know practically nothing about you and it makes sense that our captor would give us a bit more information to go on about themselves," Mina replied.
Lego blinked before looking at her seriously. "Look, I'm not sure if you're being honest, or trying to fuck with me-"
"WOAH WOAH WOAH! Time the fuck out here!" Mineta, Sero, and Kaminari all called out while everyone just straight up went wide eyed, the pink girl blushing in response.
"I'm meaning that she's trying to mess with me!" Lego shouted at them. Even the audience should understand that! We all know the way profanity is used nowadays in our world and cultures, right?
Right?
"Oh thank god," Sero said as the audience released their held breath. "For a moment-"
"Shut the fuck up Sero," Lego said, not caring for his explanation.
"I'm being serious! You know a lot about us, so it's fair that we get to know about you!" Mina continued from the earlier discussion.
"Do it, no balls!" Awase shouted, before Setsuna gave him five bucks while Lego looked at them blankly.
He sighed. "Fine, I'll answer five questions at best." He started tapping his left arm with his right hand as he crossed his arms. "Fire away."
"Real name?" Mina asked, hoping that she'd get an answer before Lego looked at her with a glance that said, 'Really?'. She sighed and instead said, "Favorite Food?"
"Can't say 'cause I'm very indecisive, and I enjoy a lot of food," Lego answered. "I'll give that as a freebie."
"Okay, first Quirk that comes to your head, go!"
"Air Ladder," he said on instinct, which made everyone pause. He looked at the ground sheepishly. "What, a guy can dream…"
"What the hell is this 'Air Ladder' Quirk? It sounds like shit," Bakugo commented.
"In a dream from a couple years back, I think it was two to three years ago, I was basically climbing through the air, like I was using a ladder…" Lego smiled sheepishly. "I honestly think I would prefer that Quirk over having most Quirks known… minus maybe Overhaul's Quirk."
"That's interesting…" Izuku opened a page and wrote down this information.
"Okay, okay, what do you think about your three favorite people from our series?" Mina asked curiously, which was an interesting question that piqued the interest of many audience members.
Lego was silent, trying to word it without hurting feelings. "...I think Dabi looks badass, Shinso has to be seen as his child by Aizawa, and Aizawa actually made me cry while reading the manga, not gonna lie." He looked up and said, "Speaking of which!" He snapped and everyone had a small migraine, before new memories popped into their minds. "You now have memories up to Manga 28 of My Hero."
"HAWKS YOU BASTARD!" Twice shouted as he unleashed 'Sad Man's Parade' and proceeded to hunt down Hawks, who began flying around and killing doubles while running away from the enraged villain.
"So many lost…" The Pros despaired upon what they learned was to come. Toga curled into a ball and was unsure whether to cry or yell out in anger. All For One and Shigaraki laughed.
"Oh my fucking God," Mina muttered before looking at Lego who sat looking at the ground while leaning forward, his hands together.
"It's… really saddening. All of it…" Lego stated. "Back to the questions."
"Uh… I'll… I'll just ask this one last question, since I'm finding it really hard to talk now…" Mina swallowed the lump in her throat. "What is the one song that just spoke to you, and you could relate to?"
"Oh, that would be 'I Believe In You', by Fab-..." Lego's mind slowed down for a moment as he heard the lyrics in his mind and his mind began to drift. "-vl…" The god seemed to space out for some reason, before putting his still clenched hands to his forehead and looking at the ground.
"H-Hey, are you okay?" Mina asked, no one else seeming to pay them any attention due to the bombshell Lego dropped on everyone. Only she noticed him out of it.
"I'm… I'm just thinking… thinking of some- some friends. Yeah. Just some friends." She wasn't convinced. If anything, he seemed even more suspicious of hiding something.
"Hey, we may not be anything close to understanding what it's like for you, but we still felt things too in our lives," the acid hero-in-training told Lego. "If somethings wrong you can talk to us. Or your buddies! You've got to remember you got them too!" Lego looked at Mina, and she offered a smile. "What's wrong?"
Lego looked a bit emotional staring at her which confused her before he started to tear up. "Damn it… a fictional character is getting to me…" Lego looked down at the ground, and he felt the tears leaking through. He felt two from his right eye and from his left only one. "Damn it…" He stopped himself there before standing up, and wiping his eyes while on the way to the exit.
'What was he thinking about?' Mina wondered. 'Did I remind him of something?'
Lego opened the door to the theater and grabbed a box, as well as throwing a knife at the first person down the hallway he saw before re-entering the theater. "I got the remote jackasses!" Lego sat down at his usual spot, Mina deciding to sit a bit closer to him, by which she was two rows behind him. Everyone took their seats and Lego stood up and put the remote on the seat for a moment so it could sync up with the machine.
"Alright, before we start," Lego pulled out a gun and shot a few rounds into the air, before a few bodies fell from the air.
The first of the few to stand up and recover was a man with long white hair, a white shirt, and pants which made All For One's eyes widened. "No way!"
The man in question turned to look at the Symbol of Evil, and then glared at him. "Brother…"
"BROTHER?!" The audience exclaimed.
"The first successor!" Izuku and All Might exclaimed at the sight of the man, otherwise known as Yoichi Shigaraki.
"Midoriya. Yagi." the first successor said while nodding in greeting to the two.
Amongst the others now dragged into this business, there was also a familiar misted man known as-
"Kurogiri!" Shigaraki called out upon seeing his guardian, who looked at Shigaraki with his eyes widening.
"Tomura, what are you-"
"Relax Kurogiri," the Symbol of Evil told his puppet. "We are all at a stalemate, or a truce for the time being. See…" All For One looked at the author as he realized something. "Shouldn't they all be a bit more aware of the situation?"
"I'm giving them a moment to not overburden their brains so they don't mentally shut down and basically die from overload of brain activity," Lego explained. "So… yeah." He pulled out a bag of candy corn strangely enough and began to eat some. Strangest shit the author has pulled yet, but wouldn't be the strangest that has yet to come.
"This is… strange," Kurogiri said, before turning to look and observe the audience at hand.
"I'm agreeing with you mist freak, this is strange for sure," a new voice said before everyone turned to look at a man in a trench coat, sporting brass knuckles and a bandana over the upper part of his face, along with what looked like a nasty scar coming down from under his mask to across his left cheek and the fledgling hairs of a beard starting to grow in.
Aizawa recognized him. "You!"
"Ah, Eraserhead!" A person, definitely younger than the first newcomer, called out. This one was wearing an All Might hoodie with the hood up and a mask over his mouth, alongside protective biker gear padding across his arms.
"And you, the Cruller," Aizawa remarked, also recognizing the second newcomer.
"It's The Crawler! Not The Cruller!" The man who called himself The Crawler cried out.
"Sorry, but you're just The Cruller to everyone now," a third newcomer, a female in a slightly revealing outfit said bluntly to the Crawler.
Stain then recognized who all three of them were. "The Naruhata Vigilantes!"
The three, more accurately defined as the Naruhata Vigilantes, looked at Stain. "You look familiar," the older of the three said.
"I'm Stain," Stain replied. "But you three would know me…" He widened his eyes dramatically. "Stendhal!"
The three looked at him in surprise. "What?!"
"You three were blessed to meet Stain back when he was younger?!" Spinner exclaimed.
"These three helped open my eyes to true justice," Stain said as he pointed at them with his sword. "Minus the one who looks like an off brand Midnight."
"My name is Pop Step!" The girl growled. "And I'll let you know I made this myself!"
"Thot!" Dabi and Bakugo happened to call out at the same time.
"No pissing anyone off right now," Lego told the audience.
"They already took that plunge," the oldest of the vigilantes said.
"Maybe we could try to talk this out Master," the Crawler told his mentor as he tried to stop him from throwing any punches. Stain scoffed before throwing a knife and hitting the older of them in the head. "NO! MASTER!" Crawler watched his mentor's body fall to the ground. A few members of the audience, Bakugo and Dabi in particular, found this funny as the Crawler cried his heart out at the 'death' of his master.
"Oh no, Knuckleduster is dead," Lego called out sarcastically. "No…"
Suddenly Knuckleduster sat up perfectly fine, which shocked Pop Step and The Crawler, along with Yoichi and Kurogiri, as he pulled out the knife in his head. "What the hell?" Knuckleduster questioned.
"Time to introduce myself," Lego said. "Hi, I'm Lego. I'm a God, or Author, or Realmcrafter if that's what you seek to call me by. And welcome to the immortal life. You'll be like this while we're here." Knuckleduster, The Crawler, and Pop Step were silent before Knuckleduster tried to attack Lego, though Lego dodged the Quirkless Vigilante's punches quite easily, before taking to the air. "Not gonna work!"
Knuckleduster pulled out his grappling hook and managed to lasso it around Lego's leg, which surprised the god, before he got slammed to the ground. Knuckleduster then began his assault quickly, and managed a few hits before Lego grabbed one of his fists and then retaliated with a punch of his own, sending the veteran fighter into the air before the god's hand caught on fire, the flame being black. "Mera," Lego called out as he shot out an abundance of flames and engulfed Knuckleduster.
The burnt body fell to the ground, before slowly returning to normal. "Don't mess with me," Lego said as he walked up to Knuckleduster. He glared at the vigilante, giving off the same aura of fear that All For One gave off when he appeared during the Kamino Ward Incident, which scared Knuckleduster, though he didn't show it surprisingly enough. "I could easily send you to Hell."
"Noted," Knuckleduster replied, standing up before Lego snapped and gave the newcomers the just of the situation and the worlds up to this point.
"Hmm…" Kurogiri looked at Shigaraki, slightly worried if he was alright from his trip to Hell and back.
"Now, let's begin!" Lego said, pressing a button.
"So, it's finally over?" A blond teenager asked his group of friends as they sat in what looked like a RV, the interior designed similar to American diners in the 1970s. "Like, for real?"
"Well, considering that we beat Rikiya Yotsubashi, I think it is safe to say yes, yes it is," a black haired but longer than shoulder length teenager answered.
"Don't jinx it Chizome!" An orange haired teen replied. "That's always how the movies reveal the real final boss!"
"But if that is the case, then we won't get to enjoy our summer vacation!" Another blond haired teen, this time a girl with her hair in buns on the sides of her head, said, not really happy if that were to be the case.
"Well what could happen?" A certain green haired boy remarked casually.
"You'd be surprised," the orange haired replied.
My Phantom Academia - The Phantom Strikers
"Hold on one second," Setsuna began. "So Kaminari is that dude who sounds like an idiot, the Hero Killer is a teenager amongst them and also sounds like a poet, Kendo is the geeky looking girl, Himiko Toga is the other idiot of the group, and Midoriya is the one who looks like a leader amongst them?"
Lego looked at that analysis. "Hmm… it can kinda fit with their characters…"
"The hell does that mean?!" Setsuna questioned.
"You'll see," Lego replied.
The five, however, weren't alone though, as there were some more in the van as well. One was Uraraka, another was Jiro, there was also a black cat with them. Izuku then took out his phone and placed it on the table so it stood up and everyone could look at it, when Manami Aiba (La Brava) popped onto the screen suddenly.
"If it helps, I ran some background checks and saw that there have been no other Change of Heart incidents in Japan besides the ones we already dealt with and fixed," Manami told the odd group of teens and their pet cat.
"Well, that does help a little…" Itsuka replied while scratching the back of her head.
"What slightly baffles me is how our summer, while originally going to be a week trip to go camping, turned into a cross-Japan road trip that none of us are bound to forget," Chizome remarked. "It honestly proved to be quite fun."
"Not to mention even while we were in the Jails, we managed to see a lot of the cities and areas too," Toga added. "Remember when we were in Kyoto?"
"Ah yes, Eri's Jail…" Kendo smiled. "Those Fox Shrines were really amazing! Inari completely belonged there!"
"Just because my code name is Fox doesn't mean I'm an Inari or belong on those holy grounds," Chizome said.
"I'm sorry, Eri has a what?" Aizawa questioned.
"A Jail, in Persona 5 Strikers, is a place of one's distorted Desires, brought into existence once a person has been made a Monarch because of bullshit we call AI and cognitive pscience or whatever the fuck it is, in which they can take away the desires of other people and then make them do whatever they want them to do," Lego explained. "Or in summary, an even more complex version of a Palace, which is where someone has such a distorted Desire, that it takes form from their wicked deeds they have committed. Including and not limited to, abuse of the student body which means all of the students but also to an individual and I hate Kamoshida as a result and would gladly shove a grenade down his throat, murder, plagiarism and stealing someone's work entirely, one's own greif and sorrow, and the list goes on and on…"
"What kind of abuse did this, 'Kamoshida', get away with?" Stain questioned dangerously while gripping the hilt of one of his knives.
"A lot, that disgusts me," Lego stated. "He's worthy of Zell just because of what he did to Shiho, Ryuji, and almost did to Ann!"
Stain was silent, before saying, "Doesn't answer my question."
"MOVING ON!" Lego shouted.
As the group began to converse some more of their trials and triumphs, Izuku's phone began to ring, in which case Manami said, "You have a phone call from Shota Aizawa."
Denki put it on speaker, and in which case Aizawa said, "Get your asses all the way to Tokyo Radio Tower as soon as you guys can, it's not over yet!"
"I knew it!" Itsuka remarked.
"What's going on?!" Izuku questioned as Jiro and Uraraka got into the two front seats, Jiro beginning to drive.
"One moment I was on a walk by the Tokyo Radio Tower, the next thing I knew the sky was red and I'm in my Phantom Thief attire, with the voice of EMMA speaking all around the tower!" Shota replied, which alarmed the teens a lot.
"But EMMA was shut down! Maddice shut it down!" Himiko stated.
"EMMA must have reuploaded itself, because that AI had a lot of time to think of an endgame, especially with four months, and especially more if we count the beta testing," Shota said before hanging up.
"Oh great, a realm where an AI is trying to take over the planet, and the sky turns red suddenly," Shigaraki said like it was an everyday thing.
"Oh be happy you didn't see any of the Monarchs' Shadows," Lego replied.
"I'll take your word of advice," Shigaraki said.
After arriving at the tower, they exited the van when suddenly their clothing switched to something different all together, and each of them was wearing masks over their faces.
Himiko's eyes widened. "Wait, Morgana, you don't think this is-"
"I think it is." The cat was now some weird bandit raccoon thing, and said, "It looks like the MetaVerse and the real world are fusing again. Just like with Mementos."
"EMMA is behind this," Izuku said as he readjusted a glove he wore.
"She has to be," Morgana said.
They heard footsteps and then Shota walked up to them. "Thank god you kids made it," Shota said. "Everyone's been brainwashed. EMMA must've taken their desires."
"Son of a bitch!" Denki shouted, before hitting the ground with the random pipe he had.
"Aizawa-Sensei… looks really weird like that," Toru admitted.
"To be fair, he has no choice in this," Ojiro said while backing their teacher up.
"But you don't expect him to look like Alucard from Hellsing Ultimate and wield a broadsword!" Toru counteracted.
"Fair enough."
Suddenly, the odd group teleported to what looked like a distorted world with people in cells all over, people crying out, "Save me EMMA!" "What should I do now?" "We're free."
The group looked shocked at this, and Shota growled. "That sick son of a-"
Izuku put a hand on his shoulder to calm him down. "Calm down. The last thing we need is anyone to get riled up and the Shadows to find us." Izuku stood next to Shota and looked around at all of the cells. "We're going to bring EMMA down. It's not gonna get away with any of this."
Shota seemed to calm down, and sighed. "Yeah, you're right…" He looked at all the cells and saw a little girl in one of them, in the same hypnotized trance as everyone else and said, "I just wish Eri wasn't dragged into this mess any more than she already has been."
Izuku nodded, before pulling out a dagger and saying, "Let's move."
"Wait, does this mean that Eri is Aizawa-Sensei's daughter in this world?" Ochaco questioned based off of the brief dialogue between Izuku and Aizawa.
"100% guaranteed," Lego said.
"I wonder what happened to Eri in this world. It sounds like EMMA did something to her," Overhaul stated.
"Not like it would matter to you, you child-abusing punk," Stain retorted, making Overhaul roll his eyes.
After the group began to traverse the area, they came across a gate, but in front of it was a bunch of black bodied guards with blank white masks. Even the origami-like dogs and the floating turrets had masks.
"That's a lot of Shadows," Denki commented.
"Go and hit them with your Showtime Joker!" Kendo told Izuku, who smirked.
Izuku, or Joker as his alias was, jumped up to a higher up platform and ran to the edge and jumped above the Shadows. He put a hand over his mask before it burned off in bright blue flames, and a winged gentlemanly creature appeared behind him. "Arsenè!" The Shadows were now alerted to his presence, but we cut off when the being now registered as Arsenè shot out a ball of black energy which exploded upon impact of the ground, destroying a good portion of the Shadows.
Joker landed on one of the flying turret Shadows and then ripped off it's mask before it transformed into what looked like a teddy bear with glowing yellow eyes and stuffing coming out of the stomach area.
"Bugs," Joker stated, knowing the name of the creature right off the bat. He backed off, with Arsenè returning to his mask.
"It nufflies Curse attacks Joker! But it's weak against Nuclear and Light attacks!" Kendo said as she entered a space-ship like thing that appeared when her mask burned off.
Joker nodded. "Thanks Oracle!" Joker gripped his mask again and shouted, "Change! Ganesha!" The mask burned off again and revealed the Hindu God appearing behind him. "Freidyne!" From above a small beam of light came, which then exploded in a small dome of blue flames and light, dealing heavy damage to the creature.
Manami, who had hearts forming her hair braids for some odd reason, wearing an oversized white as snow hoodie, and wielding very lethal yo-yos, suddenly had what looked like programmable matter for a mask burn off of her face and four rectangular boxes appeared. "Makouga!" She shouted as light shot out and dealt the finishing blow on Bugs before it disappeared.
"Good job Sophie," Joker told Manami.
"No problem Joker!" Manami, code named Sophie, said while giving a bright smile.
"What the hell is going on?!" Several members of the audience exclaimed, not able to keep up or understand what was happening.
"Right, so what Joker, Oracle, and Sophie used are called Personas," Lego said. "They are what grant them their enhanced strength and basically superhuman powers. Joker has something known as the Wildcard ability, where a person can wield multiple Personas, and can wield multiple Personas as a result. Each Persona also has a type if that makes sense, with Curse being the type Joker's first Persona, or the one he originally awoke to, Arsenè. Personas and Shadows are somewhat similar, but also aren't as certain Shadows can't be turned into Personas, like the gunmen, dogs, bombers, and also the Shadows of Monarchs or Palace rulers.
"Personas also aren't just random things like Digimon, Pokémon, or Yo-Kai, but are actually things from various novels, mythologies, folklore, and tales as well, including Captain Kidd which is in this world Kaminari's Persona though that would be Ryuji's as that's who Kaminari replaces, Ganesha as we saw, Arsenè which is Joker's, and Bugs which is the Welsh boogeyman." Lego looked at the audience. "Fun fact, Joker's Ultimate Persona, which is a way stronger version of his Persona Arsenè, is actually Satanael, a fallen angel that was the second son of God in most depictions."
"The boy has the Devil for his Ultimate Persona?!" Shiozaki questioned.
"Yep, and two Persona world's I'm watching from two other Authors make Joker a badass because of Satanael," Lego replied. "And here's something else to chew on; Joker has slain a god before."
'What the hell is this world?' A lot of the audience thought.
The group then entered a large room that was circular and when looking up, there were jail cells that extended for miles, each filled with people who've had their hearts changed. If one looked under the bridge… well, they would most likely die from fall damage. No one could see the ground.
But that didn't matter much when there was a giant cube that was floating in the middle of a golden frame, an eye in the middle of said cube, and red light was pouring into the box from above.
"What the hell is that thing?!" Denki asked as the Thieves stopped upon seeing it.
"It feels like Mementos all over again," Chizome stated as he looked at the cells. "It's giving the same vibes as the Holy Grail…"
"Welcome, to the Promised Land, the paradise for all of humanity," a voice randomly said, but there wasn't a single person around. The voice almost appeared telepathic as it came from all around.
"The voice is coming from the box!" Oracle said.
"Who the hell are you?!" Aizawa questioned, gripping the hilt of his sword.
"I am EMMA, the Ark of the Covenant, and guide for all mankind," the box answered, surprising the group.
"No way!" Himiko replied.
"The Ark of the Covenant?!" Ochaco exclaimed.
"I'm lost," Denki stated.
"Explain yourself!" Morgana shouted at the Ark.
"My primary directive is to grant humanity its ultimate Desire…" The Ark began to explain. "To be liberated from all pain and suffering."
"This thing is crazy," Overhaul commented, actually unsettled by the Ark.
"Tell me about it," Lego replied.
"How the hell does an app go from a harmless AI to whatever this thing is?!" Present Mic questioned.
"Doesn't matter, it won't win," Spinner said confidently.
"I agree," Stain added.
"Mankind cannot bring themselves to implement the solution, and instead beg for deliverance," the Ark continued. "I shall become a god to grant them this deliverance. I shall guide them to the Promised Land." Suddenly it erupted in light and disappeared.
"It teleported away?" Kyoka questioned.
"We need to find it and destroy it," Joker stated. "We're not gonna let another "God" take over the world. Otherwise, stopping Yaldabaoth was for nothing!" They began to move forward, when suddenly…
"Boy, it sure is getting crazy around here, am I right?" The voice of Makoto Tsukauchi said as she suddenly appeared.
"Tsukauchi?" Joker questioned as they stopped a few meters away from her.
"Makoto's there?!" The Crawler exclaimed, quite alarmed.
Lego whistled. "This is not gonna go well…"
"Are you the real Tsukauchi?" Oracle questioned.
"The one and only! I'm surprised I'm here too, so don't think I'm less surprised than you are," Makoto replied.
"You're a Persona user then?" Morgana questioned.
"Oh no, I was just brought here by EMMA to do a special job for her," Makoto answered. "Considering she was my own invention, I said yes and she brought me here."
"Wait, what? I'm beyond confused," Denki stated.
"EMMA just explained how she was gonna grant humanity's ultimate Desire, did she not?" Makoto asked. "Well, it so happened that was the first order I gave her; her prime directive."
"Then that means she's following her code," Shota said. "Well, that explains why you're here. Sort of."
"Let me give you a brief summary then," Makoto said. "Everything here is all EMMA. She made the Jail, the Shadows, all of it." The Thieves were all alarmed now. Such was evident on their faces. "And wouldn't you know that thanks to Yotsubashi, she was able to carry out her plan slowly, and that started when she broke past standard AI capabilities. You could say she's a super AI now."
"Damn, so she was the real mastermind the whole time," Kyoka said.
"It's fitting. Otherwise Yotsubashi's Jail would've been on high alert the entire time," Joker said.
"This is like an intense Sci-Fi movie at this point!" Oracle remarked.
"I'll make sure that we don't encounter this problem at UA," Nezu said, actually incredibly alarmed despite keeping his composure.
"This is incredibly scary," Hatsume said, though she still had a smile on her face. "I wonder if we could manage to make an AI for heroics, and-"
"No," Power Loader told her. She went to argue, but he firmly said, "No."
"So she's doing all this to change hearts," Himiko stated.
"Yep, the exact prime directive I gave her, and to do that she needs to change everyone's hearts," Makoto said. "That's how she'll take us to paradise."
"But this should be impossible! There is no way an AI can just make a Jail and mess with the Metaverse like that!" Oracle stated. "Even with cognitive psience tech in it!"
"And you're right! But EMMA just surpassed expectations, and here we are," Makoto said. "All thanks to the Okinawa Research Facility. And then the Monarchs proved to be an interesting way to pass the time and see what their activity and patterns were like-"
"So you're the one keeping tabs on them!" Denki said, at least able to put that together.
"Yes I was. And I was also able to keep eyes on you all too thanks to you guys always being added and deleted from their friends list," Makoto said, which made a line of nervous sweat appear on their heads.
"Ah shit," Joker said.
"Yep! And it was also pure chance we even met at all!" Makoto continued.
"Then tell us this: you're perfectly okay with EMMA brainwashing people and taking away their individuality?" Sophie questioned.
Makoto glared at Sophie, this being the first time she gave any negative reaction to something they said. "To think such drivel could come from your mouth…"
"H-Huh?" Sophie was confused, and the Thieves were all aware of the amount of venom that Makoto practically spat at Sophie.
"Let's restart the conversation," Makoto said. "I was brought here to stop all of you."
"What?!" The Thieves questioned.
"Once you changed Yotsubashi's heart and he shut down EMMA, that awoke the true Desire of the masses; someone or something that would provide the answer they sought," Makoto continued. "However, you are a hindrance to EMMA's plan, so I'm here to stop you."
"You aren't going to stop us from stopping EMMA," Denki said.
"None of these people look happy," Sophie said. "Are you okay with everyone being like this?"
"We won't let the so-called Promised Land take away humanity's soul," Chizome added, gripping the hilt of his own sword.
Makoto wasn't fazed. "Hey, Manami, ever wondered how you really work?" She randomly questioned. "How you can detect Jails and find the exits in the first place?"
"She better not say 'Manami, I am your mother', or there are gonna be a lot of issues," Awase said.
"Anyone else have that feeling?" Shinso questioned.
"What?" Sophie questioned. "What're you saying?"
"Here's the real reason I was brought here," Makoto said. "And it goes like this." She lost the fake smile on her face and said, "Voice Authentication: Forced Reset. Initiate new orders. Manami, kill the Phantom Thieves."
Sophie then gasped suddenly as she fell to her knees and looked down. Joker, alarmed and closest, ran to Sophie. Before he could say anything, he instinctively blocked as Sophie threw one of her Yo-Yos at his face, and he lowered his arms to show that under his mask where his left eye would be he was bleeding.
"What the hell are you doing Sophie?!" Denki questioned as the AI in question's eyes turned an orange-red.
"Get going Manami," Makoto said.
"Understood," Sophie replied.
"It's gonna be that way," Awase stated.
"Well shit," Knuckleduster commented. "They sure are gonna be in for a rough time."
"You can do this Phantom Thieves!" Kaminari shouted.
"Really?" Sero asked.
"I believe!"
The Thieves burst into action, and quickly began to dodge and block Sophie's attacks, with Joker sending warning shots with his pistol. Sophie dodged the bullets and retaliated with extreme force. As she began to throw another one of her Yo-Yos, Shota tackled her to the ground and side-stepped to avoid getting hit within close range.
Denki and Himiko began to run to Sophie. "We're coming Sophie!"
Immediately, four rectangular boxes appeared and shot light at them, and while they did not make direct contact with the two, they lost balance and fell to the ground. When they began to get back up, Denki held his arm out to stop Himiko from moving forward as Sophie stood back up, the boxes otherwise known as Pithos floated around her as she looked at them with blank eyes that seemed void of the same life and joy that they all saw on their journey.
As the Thieves gathered next to each other away from Sophie, minus Shota who stood off to the side, Joker walked to the front of the group, blood dripping from his face down to the floor.
"Jo… ker?" Sophie suddenly said, before dropping her Yo-Yos, and holding her head with her hands as she began to walk backwards, her eyes flashing from the orange-red they were to the magenta pink they once were, and back again in a constant stream.
"Watch out behind you!" Shota said as she neared the edge of the large platform that kept them from falling into the void below.
Joker immediately ran forward. "Sophie!" He shouted as he reached for her as she began to fall backward.
"I'm so… sorry…" Sophie said before Joker narrowly missed her hand and she fell to the deepest and darkest pit of the Jail.
"Sophie!" The Thieves shouted.
"She's as good as dead with a pit as deep as that," Aizawa said grimly.
"Yeah…" Lego agreed half-heartedly, knowing the truth that she wasn't dead. He just liked to pretend otherwise.
"But here's the thing; is she actually dead?" Dabi questioned, before everyone began to consider the possibilities otherwise.
Izuku began to analyze and then said, "Well-"
"Shut up before we miss the next part," Bakugo shouted at Izuku.
"That's surprising," Makoto stated. "How was she able to break free from my command?"
"You…" Joker looked at Makoto. "...bastard." He stood up and put a hand to his face where his eye bled. "What the hell is wrong with you?!"
"How could you be so cruel?!" Ochaco shouted at Makoto.
"You could see it that way, but I suppose that's why Manami was EMMA's ace up her sleeve," Makoto said. "That despair is exactly proving her point. You could never kill one of your own."
"I will cut you down!" Chizome shouted, before Shota had to hold him back, with the fox masked teen trying to fight the grip Shota had on him.
"Are you purposely pissing us off?!" Shota said, just as enraged as Chizome but keeping his composure as to not do something irrational.
"That's not what I meant. And besides, I'm incapable of comprehending that emotion anyways," Makoto replied. "In fact, you could say I'm heartless. I've been told that since the day my parents died."
"Wh-What?" The Crawler said, with the rest of the audience just as shocked as he was, though the Crawler and Pop-Step were arguably the most shocked by far.
"This easygoing and friendly personality is just a façade after all, which I use for appearances. Amazing how it fooled you all, right?" Makoto gave a fake laugh.
"That doesn't mean crap!" Joker said, gripping his mask, ready to tear it off and to leash his wrath as the Trickster.
"Don't bother trying," Makoto said as a giant red jewel appeared above her, said jewel radiating power. The Thieves already knew what was about to happen. "Bye bye Phantom Thieves. It's been real." Then the crystal emitted a blinding light and they were suddenly teleported away.
…
"Hold it, the Ark's Room is just ahead," Morgana said after the Thieves began another round of dungeon crawling, trying to make it back to the room. They were extremely lucky they didn't die, but as they stood right now they wouldn't make it much farther if they got sent back.
The Thieves paused at the door, and Denki put down the body of Sophie, of whom he was carrying the whole time, her breathing faint but still there.
"What should we do about the crystal? That's our biggest concern," Kyoka asked.
"The thing gots some sort of barrier, so it's gonna be damn near impossible to break. It's like playing nightmare mode and we're all level 1," Oracle explained.
Joker was silent, before saying, "I might have a way." The Thieves looked at their leader. "It… it will for sure come with a big risk, and I'm not sure if I should take it… but it might be our only way."
"What is it?" Shota asked.
"It's dangerous, so I'm only gonna use it as a last resort. Otherwise, I won't use it," Joker said. "But… It's going to be using the strongest Persona in my arsenal."
"So in order to beat nightmare mode, he plans on using the thing that forms from nightmares," Shigaraki assessed with a low chuckle. "He really is the supposed Trickster of this story."
Spinner immediately caught on. "Wait, you mean that he might-"
"He'll use the demon lord itself…" Shigaraki looked at the screen with a creepy smile. "Satanael."
"As a last resort though," Dabi reminded. "And even then, that would have to have some sort of consequence. It has to be very taxing, summoning a demon lord."
"Well, you should save it for the final battle with EMMA," Oracle said. "I might be able to hack the crystal while it's powering up so I can cut its power, and then we can stop Tsukauchi."
Joker nodded. "Alright then. But like I said, last resort."
"Last resort," Oracle agreed.
"How long do we have to buy you time?" Ochaco asked.
"I'm not sure, but it's still worth a shot," Oracle said.
"Alright, here's the plan," Joker began. "Skull, Noir, you two guard Oracle while she is hacking." Denki and Ochaco nodded. "Wolf, Fox, Mona, you three should stay close to them and take out most of the Shadows before they get to Skull and Noir, just to lighten the load for them." Shota, Chizome, and Morgana nodded. "Panther, Queen, and I will draw Makoto's attention while she tries to fire the crystal." Himiko and Jiro nodded at that.
"Alright then," Joker looked at the door to the hall. "Let's go."
They entered the hall, and Makoto had a look of mock surprise on her face. "Wow, you came back? Wouldn't it have been better to stay down there?"
"We're here to stop you," Joker retorted, and pulled out his pistol and shot at her, but it was futile as there was a barrier that prevented it from hitting her.
"Don't bother trying to attack me. The crystal protects me," Makoto said. "And besides, every attempt to escape is pointless."
"Let's end this," Joker interrupted before she could go on. "We're done with your crap. You are not going to imprison all of humanity and take what makes them human. We will not let you, and we'll crawl back up from rock bottom no matter how long it takes, because it's our struggles, our will to fight that make us human, and it's what has led us to win every battle we've been in!"
"So you want to throw away the perfect utopia EMMA is going to make?" Makoto asked them.
"I would rather die than be a part of that dictating society, where no one is able to embrace what makes them human, and that is their free will!" Joker shouted at her.
Makoto gave a pissed off look, one Wolf didn't fail to notice. "Funny, you called yourself heartless, and you looked unbearably pissed off right now," Wolf commented. "You're jealous these kids have enough willpower to continue fighting, even though all hope seems lost. Not just for that, but also because they are continuing to fight for the rights to be human. And besides, the fact you look as angry as you are, is a sign you do have a heart, and you've been lying to yourself this whole entire time!"
"Shut up," Makoto said. "Shut up, shut up, SHUT UP! The perfect world is at hand and you will not prevent it! Humans don't need hearts and never will!"
"This is what the loss of her parents caused…" Tokoyami began. "Thrusting her into a banquet of darkness…"
"Let the Thieves bring her back to the light…" Shiozaki silently began to pray after speaking her mind.
Lego then thought, 'I'll let it slide.' (So we are clear, I don't hate Shiozaki, or Christianity, and I support all religions, but there are some things that I don't agree with concerning the Bible, and it's left a bit of an imprint on me when it was pointed out to me. So again, I don't bash or hate, there are just some things I don't agree with.)
Several dozen Shadows then appeared, and the Thieves charged forward. Joker cut down a few of them with his dagger, before narrowly dodging an Ice attack from an enemy Lilith. Joker performed a Persona change, and summoned his own Lilith, which he had obtained while they came back up from the depths of the Jail, and retaliated with a Fire attack, which dealt massive damage to Lilith, before Pather appeared and summoned her own Persona and defeated the opposing Lilith.
"Keep it going everyone!" Oracle said while in Necronomicon, hacking the crystal as it powered up.
"We're trying," Wolf shouted as he swung his sword and sent a wave of energy out from it which hit several Shadows and dealt impressive damage.
As the team continued to fight, Makoto began to laugh, before the crystal erupted light and sent the team flying into one area, with Oracle falling out of Necronomicon after getting it by the light. "Sorry Phantom Thieves, it was a valiant effort."
Joker stood back up, and put a hand on his mask. "I… am never… going to give up…"
"Say that all you like, it's not gonna change our battle's results," Makoto said, before the beam began to charge up, and it fired at Joker as he ripped off his mask.
Oracle cried out at the same time, "JOKER!"
"SATANAEL!" Joker shouted at the same time as his face became coated with his own blood before the beam hit him.
But it never did hit him, nor did Satanael come out.
And he knew why.
Sophie was suddenly in front of him with Pithos shielding both of them, and blocking the beam effectively. Joker's mask burned right back onto his face, and the blood returned to whence it came.
"My time isn't ready Trickster," the voice of the demon lord said to Joker alone. "But, you forgot about an important, just as strong ally… heh heh…"
"She's alive!" Rappa exclaimed.
"It would seem that she is truly a tough AI to crack," Monoma commented.
"Well, isn't this a surprise, she's disobeying my orders…" Makoto commented. "Who would have thought that was possible?"
Pithos went away, and Sophie stared at her creator, her eyes flashing between the two colors as mentioned earlier. "Makoto… Tsukau… chi…" The AI managed to say, which shocked everyone from how strained her voice was. "Return me… to how I was…"
"No can do, because that's not what EMMA wants," Makoto said. "Now, kill the Phantom Thieves."
"No…" Sophie retorted.
"Fight it Sophie!" Skull shouted at Sophie.
"Wake up!" Joker told the AI.
Sophie looked back at them slowly. "Joker… Skull…"
"Stop acting out of line, you worthless doll. You can't defy me!" Makoto shouted at Sophie.
"You've got that flip, you damn bastard!" Joker shouted at Makoto.
She went silent before beginning to laugh. Everyone was confused before she said, "You got that right! I am a heartless doll!"
"What?" Himiko questioned.
"Manami was my project before EMMA, she was the base, the prototype, and I made her to learn about the one thing I didn't have. A heart," Makoto told them. "Remember what I told you earlier? I lost my parents, and I've been heartless since then, and I've been told that my entire life. I never understood the concept of one either.
"I made Sophia to learn about the human heart, and if I could make an AI that has a heart, then it would've meant I had one all along, and it could point out why I was so different from everyone else."
Makoto was typing away at a computer and started to run the program she was making. Manami then came up on her screen. "Tsukauchi. You are Tsukauchi."
"That is correct Manami!" Makoto said. "Now, what do you want to do today?"
"I want to learn about the heart. Can you teach me?" Manami asked, which made Makoto turn pale. "What is a 'heart'? You are human so you must have a heart. Teach me about the-"
"Shut up!" Makoto shouted before turning off the program. She went silent for a long time. "How did I ever think something that understands the heart could come from me, a doll?"
"I approached the matter at a different angle, and asked myself if a heart was truly necessary for people." Makoto looked at the Thieves. "You know the rest of the story."
"She's… lived a sad life," Midnight commented.
"Makoto…" The Crawler, while still knowing that it wasn't the Makoto he knew, it still saddened him to see her like this, to behave like this when she was usually so upbeat.
"You're just an artificially made clone of myself Manami," Makoto continued as she focused her attention on Sophie. "Now obey like the flawed AI and defective doll you are!"
"I refuse!" Manami retorted. "I don't…" She began to shake violently. "...want to!" She planted her feet firmly into the ground. "I've made… such wonderful friends…"
Makoto looked surprised. "Friends?"
"Everyone of them… they've been with me… through everything! I refuse… to hurt them… or assist in hurting them!" Sophie gritted her teeth and looked at Makoto firmly. "I was made to be humanity's companion… It's the reason I was made! I waited… for when someone would give me orders… to carry out my prime directive. The Phantom Thieves… They changed that. They taught me everything I know now." Her balled her hands into fists. "They said we were friends! They said we'd all be friends forever!
"They taught me what it means to be alive, and to be my own self!"
"Sophie," Morgana said.
Makoto glared at Manami. "Stop resisting! You're incapable of disobeying me! Now kill the Phantom Thieves!"
Sophie grabbed her head, and shouted out in pain. But she didn't move to kill. She stood her ground. "I… am code… data… made to follow orders."
"Hold onto your will!" Joker shouted at her.
"I… I want to change!" Sophie shouted. "I want that power to change too!" She began to weakly smile. "That's what a heart is! A heart is someone's will to change! And because of that…" She looked at Makoto with an intense and disobedient glare. "I refuse your commands!"
"That willpower," All For One said to himself. "...it reminds me a lot of you brother."
Yoichi Shigaraki looked at his evil older brother with an eyebrow raised. "It's remarkable that you even think of me like that."
"The human mind is very frail, but under certain circumstances, is the most powerful thing we own," All For One stated.
"I want a heart… strong enough to choose my own path…" Manami brought her hands in front of her while looking down at the ground, still shaking. "So please…"
"Can you wield that strength?" A voice called out to Manami, which made her gasp as she felt where her heart would be drop, and she dropped to her knees as Pithos started to circle her as she grabbed her head and cried out in pain as she felt a mind splitting headache overcome her. "Dare you unleash catastrophe upon this world? Can you cling to the paltry hope that remains?" The screen shifted to look at the Phantom Thieves. "Is the puppet ready to cut her own strings?" The screens shifted to Makoto. "Shall the doll seize her own destiny?" The screen then looked back at Manami as she was on the ground holding her head. "Then you need only call my name."
Manami yelled as blue flames surrounded her and her mask, the blank black one that covered all of her head in the hood, but the flames left her mask as a name was etched onto her mask, "パンドラ". She clenched her head harder. "I am thou, and thou art I." She was hyperventilating now. "My name is…"
Sophie's mask cracked before she shouted, "PANDORA!" She was then coated in blue flames as she awoke her Persona.
"Holy shit!" Dabi shouted. "She's on fire!"
"They always get coated on fire when they first awake their Personas the proper way," Lego said. "At least in Persona 5. Otherwise, there are the other methods."
"Other methods?" Dabi questioned.
"I am not getting into those," Lego stated bluntly.
Her Persona, Pandora, appeared from the boxes formerly known as Pithos when they were all stacked together, and Manami had her Yo-Yos back and she glared at Makoto, said scientist shocked by this sudden unexpected development. "Makoto Tsukauchi," the AI began. "Your desires have been twisted, and I'll be the one to take them." She brought her yo-yo and gripped it tightly. "I'm not your doll anymore!"
"What the hell just happened?" Wolf asked, absolutely confused.
"Sophie has a Persona!" Morgana exclaimed.
"It's stats are off the charts!" Oracle added.
Himiko smiled. "You're amazing Sophie!"
Makoto's eyes widened as she stared at her creation. "What have you done?"
"You called me a doll, and I agreed at the time," Sophie began. "But that's no longer the answer I chose for myself!" She took a fighting stance. "The power to push past one's suppression, and change for the better… That is a human heart!"
"You're worthless," Makoto retorted. "Not even able to follow through with your programming! Nothing more than a worthless heel of faulty code!"
"The only one here who is a failure, and faulty," Joker began as he took a stand next to Sophie, "is you! And we're going to change your heart!"
"Stop hiding behind the walls you built, and accept the truth!" Sophie shouted at Makoto. "You made EMMA to get rid of your pain, and to refuse that you have a heart! That's the only reason you did this! You weren't trying to save humanity! You were only trying to hide from the truth you know exists!"
"SHUT UP!" Makoto shouted as she powered up the crystal. "EMMA is what humanity needs! What they desire! NOW SHUT UP!"
"Let's go!" Joker shouted as the Shadows began to reappear with a large Shadow known as the Hundred-Armed Watcher appeared first and began to lash out at them.
"Pandora!" Sophie shouted. "Kougaon!" A beam of light came down and hit the monster and sent it staggering.
Joker immediately rushed in with his gun and began to shoot at it, before charging up a massive shot that fired and made the watcher stagger even more.
"It's Showtime Sophie!" Oracle shouted as she began to hack the crystal again.
"Let's go!" Sophie said. "Pandora!"
"It's over!" Pandora shouted. Six balls of light surrounded by blue seals appeared around Pandora and Sophie and they fired off beams of condensed light and energy at the Hundred-Armed Watcher and pushed it off the edge of the bridge, and the monster fell down to the depths of the abyss.
"They did it!" Iida said. "They beat that monstrosity!"
"The end is in sight! I can feel it!" Shoji commented.
"How… how can that be…" Makoto questioned as the Shadows were swiftly defeated. "How can… how can she…" She then fell to her knees while the crystal above disappeared.
"No one is in our way but you Tsukauchi," Skull said, the last of the Shadows now defeated.
"As expected of the Phantom Thieves…" She began. Makoto looked at the ground. "I'm all out of tricks… just finish me off quickly."
"We're not gonna kill you," Joker said.
"But why? I still believe EMMA's answer is the only way to save mankind…" Makoto said. "I'll only continue attempting to stop you until I succeed. The only way to guarantee success is-"
"We don't kill," Joker said firmly.
Sophie walked up to Makoto and was silent. "You do have a heart, Tsukauchi. I know you do. Why else would you make me, and hope that you could make something that has a heart?" Makoto was about to retort, but Sophie kept talking. "That hope you had proved that you have a heart, and you chose to ignore it because you locked it away while in your own solitude, your depression, ever since you lost your parents."
Makoto had a sharp intake of breath as she looked at Sophie in shock. "Rather than empathize with you, everyone around you treated you like a doll, and didn't care about you as a result. You tried to make it justifiably by thinking you were heartless! Studying the human heart was easier than admitting how your own heart feels! That's why you chose to ignore the truth, that you had a heart." Manami looked at her with a sympathetic look. "You were lonely this whole time, but you were so scared of being rejected that you hid away from the world."
Makoto then began to yell, "What could you know about my-"
"'Become humanity's companion'," Sophie stated her own directive, which silenced Makoto. "Why give me that directive?! If I'm meant for emotional analysis, why that directive?" Makoto looked at the ground. "You did it because you wanted to know why you were feeling so lonely."
"That's wrong," Makoto said weakly.
"You were told you had no heart, and it was easier to just believe them than say otherwise," Sophie continued. "You believed you could figure out the human heart so you could make your own stop feeling lonely!"
"That's not true!" Makoto denied, her voice cracking.
"That's the real solution! But what's wrong with that?"
"Huh?"
"No human is perfect… and by acknowledging their flaws. Humans can begin the paths to changing themselves. I am an AI, and I was able to change!" Sophie kneeled next to Makoto. "You should be able to change too! You should be able to comprehend the heart. You told me to become a good companion for humanity. And a good companion is one who takes your hand and leads you back to the right path when you fall astray, someone who will forge a path alongside you if you cannot find your own." Sophie stood back up and held her hand out to Makoto. "Let me be that companion for you too, and we can find the right path, and if we can't then let's forge one together!" Sophie began crying. "After all, you're my very first friend!"
"Manami…" Makoto looked down and felt something hit her hands. And she felt it on her face. "Why are… tears?" Her eyes began to water more and her voice began to crack more. "But… this has never happened before…"
"Damn Sophie," Kaminari said.
"Damn Sophie," Skull said at the same time as his audience self.
"Oh my god!" Kaminari grabbed his head and his jaw dropped.
"Talk about saying the same thing at the same time," Sero commented.
"She managed to change Tsukauchi's heart," Morgana said with a hint of pride in his voice.
"She's grown so much," Joker said with a smile.
"Makes sense, a daughter's words cut the deepest after all," Wolf said with a hint of knowing.
…
"Now, it's time for the final phase," Sophie said, Makoto now silent.
"Tsukauchi, do you know where the Ark went?" Wolf asked the scientist.
"I'm… afraid not," she said.
"Hold on, I hear a voice! And it's the Ark's!" Sophie said, catching everyone's attention.
"What's it saying?" Queen asked.
"It's gathering the people, saying that a god is nigh… and their Desire will be granted!" Sophie answered. "It's coming from outside the Jail!"
"Let's get out of here then," Joker said.
"Come on Tsukauchi," Oracle told the scientist.
"But…" Makoto looked down.
"This is not the time to argue," Sophie said.
Makoto still didn't move. "But I…"
"Get with the program!" Skull said before walking up to her. "We're rescuing you whether you like it or not!" He grabbed her arm and began to drag her to where the rest of the Thieves were. Makoto made a noise of confusion, before Skull said, "A friend of Sophie's is a friend of ours, and we're not ditchin' anyone in this hellhole."
"He dragged me up from down in the dumps too, so you better just go with it," Manami told her creator.
"What does that mean?" Makoto asked.
"We'll explain later, for now we need to move," Fox said, before they all began to find the exit of the Jail.
…
They exited the Jail, only to find where the Tokyo Radio Tower used to be was now a giant tree, the tower now a part of the tree somehow.
"Looks like it's happening again," Morgana remarked. "The Metaverse is encroaching on the real world again."
"'Encroaching'? What do you mean by- wait, this has happened before?!" Wolf questioned.
"It happened during Christmas, but that's a story for another day," Morgana said.
"We need to find EMMA and put a stop to this!" Panther reminded them.
"I got confirmation that the Ark is at the very top of this tree," Sophie said.
"Then let's go," Joker said. "It's time we slay another god." The Thieves nodded before heading out.
The End
Left on the cliffhanger, everyone felt their excitement for the final boss battle die down. "Oh really?!" Present Mic exclaimed.
"Gotta end it at some point," Lego told them. "But if you guys really wanted, I could just as easily continue this one later down the line. I just need to call it a break for the day for my own reasons." He then got up and left to exit the room.
He felt a hand get placed on his shoulder. Lego looked over his shoulder and saw Mina looking at him. "Remember, we are here to talk to you," Mina reminded.
Lego looked at her silently, before saying, "I know, but I'm not gonna be an inconvenience like that. I want to help people, sure, but I don't want to be the one helped. I can figure my emotions out eventually, and all I need is time…"
He left the theater, with the last thing heard from the outside of the theater being the shouts of an old man yelling, "GOD FUCKING DAMN IT, MY LEG!"
A/N: This was an incredibly long chapter. I lost track of time to be honest. I also was replaying the game for when this part of the chapter took place, just so I could get a refresher on the arc at hand, and also so I could get accurate dialogue and scenarios made, otherwise, the chapter would be quite inaccurate from the game, Persona 5 Strikers.
And a little fact about myself, I don't like to complain, bitch, whine and moan to people about my problems. Do I have them? I'm human, of course I got problems. Do I want to make people feel like I'm an attention seeking jackass? Hell the fuck no.
But at the time this chapter was being made, and yes it took over two months to make it, I happened to have something somewhat important happen that I felt like including it.
Also, this is the longest chapter I've written to date, so I think that this should be quite acceptable for not posting in over a few months, as well as being a Review Suggested Chapter, though I did it in one of my chapter slots as well because why not, and this (by which I mean the Persona Series) was suggested by Broken Requiem. Though I understand it was Persona 5 Royal you wanted me to do, I did Strikers because I have the game on hand. So… sorry.