Akira had another dream about that eerie, long-nosed man and the twin wardens. How strange, things were really getting weird and he didn't like it. Regardless, he tried to think nothing of it and went to school, hoping to avoid any detours.

Like yesterday, Sumire followed him, staying close to his side despite the fact she could just float over the crowd. A few people had actually walked through her. She still couldn't get used to the feeling. It was like being submerged in extremely cold water. When they got off the first train to change lines for Aoyama-Itchome, Sumire spied a redheaded girl who had a ponytail with a red ribbon. She called Akira's name to catch his attention and pointed at her.

"She looks a lot like me…"

Akira scrutinized the girl from where they stood and was somewhat able to see the resemblance. They both realized she wore a Shujin uniform.

"Please, take my seat. My station's coming up," the girl offered to an elderly woman and stood up. The woman smiled and looked at her with kind eyes.

"Are ya sure? Then…"

Just as soon as she got up, a man moved into the seat, nearly pushing her to the side. Akira raised a brow at this while Sumire sputtered indignance. The girl looked back with wide eyes.

"Oh wow, what speed! I mean— Excuse me, that seat was for this lady…"

The man simply ignored her and dozed off much to everyone's bewilderment. Sumire herself felt even more so offended by this rude act. She called out to Akira.

"That's so rude! Akira, you should say something!" she commanded.

Akira cleared his throat, making his presence known. "Want me to 'wake him up'?"

"Wh-Why did you go for that?!" Sumire argued with him.

The girl shook her head and smiled at him. "It's all right. I can understand his position as well," she explained and stared over at the man before shifting her head to the old lady. "I'm sorry I couldn't be of any help."

"It's all right, dearie. Don't you worry," the woman gave her a sweet smile. The girl shook her head and held out her hands.

"Please allow me to carry your luggage, at least."

"Thank you!" The lady said and eagerly passed over her bags into the girl's hands. "Ain't it heavy, though?"

"Not at all! I train plenty," she smiled and adjusted the weight in her hand. She carried it with ease and poise. Sumire couldn't take her eyes off the girl. The way she stood and even the way she spoke so confidently… What was this feeling…?

They exited the train and Sumire trailed behind Akira when she suddenly felt the girl phase through her body. The feeling from earlier intensified and hurt even more.

Her head ached.

It was like when they met Yoshizawa-san the other day. She raised her hands to her temples and grimaced. Akira noticed her discomfort and looked at her with concern. However, he had to force a neutral expression when the girl from earlier walked up to him and bowed down respectfully.

"Thank you so much for earlier."

Akira rubbed his nape, feigning ignorance. "With what?"

"For speaking up when I offered my seat on the train," she explained. "You're a second-year at Shujin Academy, correct? I'm a first-year there myself. Thanking you totally slipped my mind back on the train, and I didn't want to be rude to my senpai."

Akira flashed a gentle smile as he replied. "No worries."

"Please, excuse me!"

She bowed again and ran off. Akira's smile faded as he turned to address another problem. He quickly made his way over to Sumire and comforted her.

"Hey, are you okay?"

"Y-yeah, yeah… I'm okay, Akira. But that girl… I think...!" She groaned and her balance wobbled. Akira tried to hold her up even though his hands went through her arms. "I… I remembered something…"

"Do you still have it?" Akira asked. Sumire tentatively nodded her head and responded, "Sort of, it's just a blurry image now. It's way too fuzzy to make anything out of…"

"Well, at least that's some progress, right?" Akira smiled and attempted to pat her head. Even though he failed, Sumire smiled. They were getting closer, but it was also still too far. "Come on, we should head out. We're gonna be late!"

—————————

They arrived at school. Sumire seemed excited for the new day, unlike Akira. She didn't remember the last time she had been to an actual class, if she did for that matter, but found it intriguing and listened attentively. Akira was slumped in his chair at the desk in front of her, barely processing the information as the teacher spoke.

"I'm the social studies teacher, Ushimaru-sensei. I'll be teaching you the rules of society this year." He huffed haughtily and scrutinized the room. "Hmph… You all look like you've been spoiled growing up. Can't wait to see who disappoints me the most this year."

"He sure has some bold words," Sumire told Akira. Akira nodded and rolled his eraser around on the table, not paying attention to most of the material until his name was suddenly called.

"Hey, new kid! Tell me what the Devil's Dictionary defined the chief factor in the progress of the human race," Ushimaru-sensei demanded. Akira desperately side-eyed Sumire. She groaned and begrudgingly left her seat. She walked behind the teacher's desk to see an open textbook. She quickly scanned the pages that Ushimaru-sensei had out and went back to Akira.

"It's malefactors… You dumb cheat," she scolded him as she plopped into her seat.

Akira rolled his eyes. "Sumire, I didn't even ask for your help…" He cleared his throat. "Ahem, it's malefactors."

Ushimaru-sensei nodded. "Yes, that's correct! Now then…" He continued on, but it became nothing more than murmuring to Akira again.

Sumire sputtered indignantly and hissed into his left ear, trying to get a reaction out of him and ruin his straight face. "Yes. You. Did."

Akira grumbled and kicked his foot out at Sumire. She yelped at the unpleasant feeling of something phasing through her body. Akira contained a snort, struggling to keep his attention on the teacher with a straight face.

Sumire crossed her arms and pouted. "Rude!"

"Thanks, Sumire," Akira whispered. Her sour expression went soft and she sighed, sitting back down in her seat and put an arm on the desk to support her head.

"I can't be mad at you…"

The bell rang, indicating the end of classes, so Akira and Sumire got up to leave. Akira stretched his arms out and yawned, but Sumire looked more alive than ever (funnily enough). Akira didn't know if it was because she was always a cheery person or if she really enjoyed school, both of which he didn't understand.

Akira walked out the classroom with Sumire. She went on about the things she found interesting while Akira simply ignored her. As soon as they turned to go downstairs, they saw Kamoshida striding toward a particular blonde-haired girl.

"Hey there, Takamaki. Things have been pretty dangerous lately with all those accidents," Kamoshida said. Sumire's satisfied smile immediately disappeared when they saw the man approach Ann. Akira backed up a few steps and listened to the two of them interact, eavesdropping a distance away to avoid immediate detection.

"Sorry, I have a photoshoot today. It's for the special summer issue, so I can't afford to miss it," she said. She sounded on edge. Both Akira and Sumire could tell that was a horrible lie, but they knew why. Akira's skin crawled at the tone Kamoshida used and Sumire was seething at his very presence alone. Dead or alive, she wanted to be nowhere near him.

"That's a horrible lie," Akira muttered and Sumire scolded him for it. "What? Sorry, but at least he can't really do anything out here. Hopefully."

She took some solace at his words. Still, she felt jumpy. They turned their attention back to them.

Kamoshida put a hand on Takamaki's shoulder and she flinched. He looked at her with a plastered smile. "Hey, now… Being a model's fine and dandy, but don't work your pretty little self to the bone. You mentioned you weren't feeling well, right? Something about appendicitis?"

Both Akira and Sumire raised their brows at this.

Takamaki nodded and tightly clutched onto the strap of her bag. Anyone could tell how blatant those lies were. How long was this going on for? "Yes, I keep planning to go to the hospital, but I've been too busy… Sorry to worry you."

"You must be so lonely too. I feel bad for keeping your best friend at practice so often. Oh, and… be careful around that transfer student. He's got a criminal record, after all. If something were to happen to you…"

Both of them stiffened up at the mention of Akira's record and the way he emphasized "so lonely." Chills went up Akira's spine and Sumire felt cold. Takamaki was extremely tense, occasionally glancing away from Kamoshida as if she wanted to escape. "…Thank you. Please excuse me."

Kamoshida smiled and waved her off until she was out of sight. Behind her back, he frustratedly clenched his hand and walked off. "Tch…"

Sumire whispered to Akira, "We definitely need to be wary of him…"

"I think we need to be more than wary…"

—————————

They both walked out of the school and as soon as they came down the stairs, they heard a few footsteps and a nonchalant voice call out to them, or well, Akira in particular. "Yo."

They both turned around and saw Ryuji. Akira greeted him. "What's up?'

"I wanna talk about that castle from yesterday," Ryuji told him. "I tried tellin' myself it was all just a dream… but I couldn't do it. I can't act like nothing happened. It's all connected to that bastard Kamoshida, after all."

"Yeah, we actually ran into him earlier," Akira said absentmindedly. Sumire was about to scold him for it until Ryuji brought up the slip of the tongue.

"We?"

"Shit," Akira internally chided himself. "I meant I. Sorry, slip of the tongue. He was being really creepy."

Ryuji seemed to buy that and nodded. "Typical of that damn teacher… Hell, he ain't even a teacher, he's a demon. That's why I wanna find out what's up with that place, no matter what. You even saw what that asshole was like, aren't you curious? I mean— you're the only one I can rely on for this stuff so… you in?" He looked into Akira with a stern, focused expression, but the look in his eyes betrayed a sort of desperation.

Sumire didn't like the idea and pleaded. "Akira, we don't have to go back there, right? I mean— that was probably just a dream anyways! Yeah! A dream! That's it! Absolutely none of that happened and we should most definitely be getting home now! Don't want to upset Sakura-san again, right?"

"Sure. What's next? I guess I can't really sleep easy knowing a place like that exists…"

"Akira!" Sumire yelled at him, attempting to pound her fists against his back and kept spouting out how this wasn't a good idea. "Look, I know you're a helpless adrenaline junkie and you try to hold it back but come on! You could die in there!"

Akira ignored her nagging and constant pleas to keep him safe. He instead listened to Ryuji who was now grinning from ear to ear. "Nice! Okay, glad we're in this together. I think we should just try and retrace our steps from yesterday."

"Sounds good to me," Akira told him. Sumire swooped herself in front of him and pleaded one more time.

"Akira, please rethink this decision! I've already died, but you still can! You might get hurt in there!"

Akira looked at Sumire and sighed before looking back at Ryuji. Sumire had a hopeful smile on her face that he would change his mind, but he said the exact opposite.

"I'm really sorry, but I want to go back there no matter what, too. I can't rest easy knowing that somebody like that is in our school. It's not safe for any of us… I want to uncover the things he's done," Akira said. Sumire crossed her arms and disapproved of his decision, whereas Ryuji could barely contain his excitement through his grin.

"From that answer, I'd say you're even more pumped up than me! C'mon, you're walkin' to the station, right? Let's go together. Lemme know if you see any weird buildings along the way."

"Roger that, Ryuji."

They walked around the area multiple times, trying to figure out what they were doing wrong. They were going along the same path, but it was the same every single time. They'd always end up at the school gates instead of a castle.

"Huh? We're at school… There wasn't anything out of place along the way, right? I didn't see no castle either…" Ryuji looked at the school building with slumped shoulders. He grit his teeth. "…We must've made a wrong turn somewhere. Let's try again."

They tried another time. And then another. Then another and another and another and another… The school was empty. Nobody was coming in. Nobody was coming out. Just two delinquents and a ghost loitering outside. Ryuji leaned against the wall by the gates and sighed. "Is it smaller than we think it is? What do you think?"

"I mean, it's probably moved. It's magic, so that must've been it!" Sumire told Akira, hopeful they would give up.

"Have you checked your phone yet?" Akira asked Ryuji. The blond gave a questioning look, but complied anyway.

"Nope, nothin' there. Why am I checkin' again…? I already did it last time, but I didn't see anything like it around here…"

"Yes…!" Sumire pumped her fist triumphantly. "Great, search over! Now we can go back to Leblanc and—"

"Huh? Phone… Hey, that reminds me— didn't you have a navigation app thingy on back then?" Ryuji asked.

Sumire's expression crumbled and she groaned. "Dang it!"

Akira smiled and cocked his head to the side innocently. "Navigation app? Well, now that you say that… There's this red-eye thing. It's been here since I've come here."

"Are you for real?! C'mon dude, lemme see it!"

Akira passed the phone over to Ryuji's rough hands cautiously and he tapped on the app. He cheered out in success. "It is a navigation app! Aw man, I'm such a genius! I knew 'cause it said 'returned to the real world' and shit like that when we came outta that freaky castle. Let's try usin' it! There's even your search history!"

"Please, don't do it…" Sumire whined.

"Please, go ahead." Akira smiled. Sumire turned to Akira and continued to whine, but Akira didn't spare her a glance. He just smiled without a care in the world.

Kamoshida… Shujin Academy… Pervert… Castle…

Beginning navigation.

"There we go!" Ryuji smiled. "…Then, we went in a certain direction and—"

Sumire gasps at the sudden change of temperature. What was going on? Why did it get so much colder suddenly? Akira also felt the atmosphere shift and frantically looked around. It threw him off guard. Ryuji crooked up his eyebrows and adjusted his grip on Akira's phone.

"Hey, what're you— Huh? What the hell?!"

The phone in Ryuji's hand flickered black and red. There was a large, foreboding eye in the center of it.

Their vision went wavy as a sudden headache struck all of them. Dark waves of red and black came from the phone, consuming their vision until it went dark. They heard this weird, distorted sound ring around them. When they could see again, they saw that the all too familiar castle replaced Shujin Academy.

"Look! It's the castle from yesterday!" Ryuji ran up to the main door and laughed triumphantly. "We made it back… That means what happened yesterday was for real too…" He suddenly frowned and looked over at his companion only to be surprised. "Yeargh! Wait, those clothes!"

"He just noticed…?" Sumire sighed. Akira raised a brow and looked down at himself. He inspected his new attire with wide eyes. Sumire looked at him with disbelief. "Wait, you didn't realize either?!"

"That happened last time too, huh?! What's with that outfit?!" Ryuji pointed at him.

The clothes didn't feel bad. In fact, it was extremely comfortable. It felt nice, breathable, and he was able to move around easily. That and it looked good, at least, that's what he thought.

He gave Ryuji a devious smirk and adjusted one of his gloves. "Not bad, huh? You jelly?"

"I-I ain't jealous!" Ryuji stuttered back. Sumire snorted and walked around Akira, inspecting his clothes. "Huh! It doesn't look that bad after all! It suits you!"

"What's goin' on here?! This makes no 'effin sense at all…!" Ryuji shouted. A familiar, high-pitched voice called out to them. They snapped their heads towards the source and there it was, the monster cat.

"Hey! Stop making a commotion, you'll put the Shadows on guard," Morgana warned them.

Ryuji's eyes widened and he gasped out quietly. "Ah… You?!"

"The Shadows started acting up, so I came here wondering what it could be… To think you two would come back to the entrance when you barely managed to escape." Morgana huffed. "You two are idiots…"

"It's us three! And no, we aren't idiots!" Sumire said before cautiously looking back at Akira and cleared her throat. "Okay, at least I'm not an idiot!"

"You're on the same level as us…" Akira whispered to Sumire, but Morgana picked it up and misinterpreted the message.

"Shut up! I am not on the same levels as you morons! I had a reason, Frizzy Hair!" Morgana hissed. Ryuji shook his head and cut through their conversation.

"Anyway, what is this place? …Is it the school?" Ryuji asked Morgana. Morgana nodded and his tail followed his movements. "That's right."

"But it's a castle!" Ryuji argued.

"This castle IS the school... But only to this castle's ruler."

"The castle's ruler?" Ryuji scratched the back of his head. Akira turned his head over to the school-castle and stared at the brick walls. Only to this castle's ruler…?

"I think you called him Kamoshida? It's how his distorted heart views the school."

"Kamoshida… Distorted…?" Ryuji echoed. Akira could see the information being processed in his head like calculus. He continued to think and think, but he ultimately came up with nothing. "Explain it in a way that makes sense!"

Morgana let out a long, annoyed groan. "Ugghhh, I shouldn't have expected a moron like you to get it easily…"

"What did you say?!"

"Are they just doomed to fight forever…?" Sumire thought as she watched the kitty and the blond ape bark at each other. "I don't get it either—"

A shrill scream that just about shook the castle boomed from its dark and gloomy bowels. The sky seemed to grow redder with that scream. It wasn't the first time it happened either. Akira tensed up as he felt a chill like electricity go up his spine. Sumire suddenly felt chilly and wrapped her arms around her body. "E-eep—!"

"Wh-What was that?!" Ryuji cried out. Morgana was unfazed by the scream as if it were a daily occurrence.

"It must be the slaves captive here."

Ryuji looked down on him with wide eyes. "For real?!"

Another scream bellowed. Akira grimaced while Ryuji was freaking out, gripping his hair and frantically pacing around nervously. "Oh, shit… It's for real! Wait, we saw other guys held captive here yesterday, I'm pretty sure they're from our school!"

"Most likely on Kamoshida's orders," Morgana said. "It's nothing out of the ordinary; it's like that every day here. What's more, you two escaped yesterday. He must've lost his temper quite a bit."

Ryuji stomped his foot into the ground and grit his teeth, his fists beginning to go red. "That son of a bitch!"

"Ryuji?"

"This is bullshit!" He charged straight for the door and slammed his body against it in a fit of rage. Sumire yelped in surprise at Ryuji's abrasiveness. He yelled with all his might. "You hear me, Kamoshida?!"

"Doing that isn't going to open it, you know…" Morgana's words fell on deaf ears. "Still, it seems you have your reasons."

The pissed Ryuji whipped around and walked back over to Morgana. "Hey, Monamona!"

Morgana scowled. "It's Morgana!"

"Do you know where those voices are comin' from?" Ryuji asked. Morgana sighed defeatedly.

"You want me to take you to them?" Morgana looked over at Akira. "…Well, I guess I could guide you there. But only if he comes with us."

"Umm…" Sumire eyed Akira and they shared a look. "As much as I think we shouldn't… we have to, don't we?"

Akira was indifferent to Sumire's hesitance. "I don't really have any other options, but I wouldn't have said no either way. I'll go."

"It's settled then! I also get to have a look at your powers!" Morgana cackled.

Ryuji walked up to Akira and slung his arm over his shoulder. "For real?! Thanks, man. You don't know how much this means to me…"

Akira grinned and pushed his arm off. "Don't thank me. I can't handle people like Kamoshida either… I don't like him at all."

"We really do get along well, eh?" Ryuji smiled. Sumire giggled and followed Morgana as he called to the two boys.

"All right, let's do this. Follow me— Wait a second…" Morgana stopped himself and looked straight at Sumire. She froze and waved her hands with a hopeful smile, wondering if Morgana could finally see her. "You still have that weird light around you?" Sumire immediately deflated.

"So I'm still just a light…" she sighed dejectedly.

"Weird light? What're you talkin' about? I don't see any light… Are you sure we can trust you? You might be a little…" Ryuji raised a finger to his head and twirled it around.

"I'm not crazy! That light was there last time, too! I've seen the Shadows look away from or at it, so it has to mean that they see it. We can use it as an excellent battle tactic to distract them!"

"M'kay, I meant the crazy thing as a joke at first but seriously, what the hell are you talkin' about…?"

"Like most things in this world, it's probably too complicated for you to understand."

"Why you damn—!"

"Let's just get to business," Akira said as he slapped a gloved hand over Ryuji's mouth. "I assume we have a lot to learn?"

"Plenty to learn. Almost too much since you're an amateur," Morgana quipped, "but you'll be a pro by the time I teach you everything."

"Isn't that always the goal for everything when you're teaching something?" Sumire muttered to Akira.

"I'd assume so." Akira answered and Sumire was confused by who it was directed to.

Morgana pointed to the area they escaped from last time. A wide vent that led from the inside to the outside. Morgana smirked. "Not barging in through the entrance is one of the basics of phantom thievery."

"How're we supposed to know about that stuff…?"

Sumire shook her head. "That's honestly a no-brainer."

"I'll make sure to teach you as we go. Come on, follow me!" Morgana disappeared into the shaft and Ryuji awkwardly muttered to him.

"So, uh… sorry for draggin' you into all of this… But I just can't forgive that bastard Kamoshida doin' whatever the hell he wants!"

Akira gave him a reassuring nod. "Don't worry about it, I feel the same."

Akira jumped up and latched onto the edge of the vent. Sumire phased through the wall and made it onto the other side with ease. Ryuji came out of the hole a few seconds later with dust covering his uniform and caking his hair.

"That was easier than I thought." Sumire said as Akira rolled his eyes.

"Easy for you to say."

Akira, Sumire, and Ryuji then followed Morgana out of the room into the main halls. The scenery was as gaudy and vulgar as ever. A huge portrait of Kamoshida in all his glory was hung up on a wall. Sumire's attention was drawn to it and as she got close she could feel a cold draft coming from it.

"Damn, what is this place?" Ryuji asked as he and everyone else saw an image of the school flash for just a moment. "The eff?"

"Seems to be the main lobby. Would make sense since the door is literally there," Akira surmised, looking back at the main doors.

"There's something strange about that painting…" Sumire commented.

"We'll find out after we investigate," Akira whispered to her as they then continued down to the dungeons.

"Come on, this way!" Morgana said as he led the ragtag team further down.

The four made their way downstairs to reach the dungeon area they last escaped from, only to find themselves blocked by a patrolling shadow, blocking their path. To avoid being detected, they hid behind the barred door, outside of its line of sight.

Morgana scowled. "Shoot… I had a feeling there would be guards here. It looks like we're gonna have to start fighting our way forward."

"F-For Real…?" Ryuji muttered through a worried expression.

Morgana seemed to roll his eyes pointedly. "Oh boy. I'll just have to teach the basics of battle now for now. You'd better not forget all of this." He then looked up to Akira, garnering his attention. "It's better to ambush enemies instead of rushing in headlong. Attack from behind whenever you can and rip their masks off to momentarily break the control the Palace Ruler has over them. If you succeed, your opponent will be caught off guard, allowing us to jump in for a preemptive attack." He looked at Akira as if he expected him to try it. He was a bit reserved about it, but at the same time it was kind of exciting.

Ryuji nodded. "So, we wanna get the jump on 'em and make the first strike… Okay, got it!"

Morgana gave him the side-eye. "Eh, you know you're just going to be watching, right? You don't have a Persona, but anyway, let's go."

Sumire gasped and watched in anxious anticipation as Akira poised up to attack. "Wait, are they really going to try and jump that Shadow?"

Akira, although he felt his nerves tightening. It was intimidating for sure, but it was kind of exciting in a somewhat twisted way. Like, he could die, but he had a Persona. The other Shadows weren't that bad to deal with.

So he snuck behind the oblivious Shadow. Once he was in range, he springed up with athleticism that would've surprised him if he weren't caught up in the moment. Latching onto the burlesque knight's shoulders, he pried his hands into the edges of the mask. With a sharp yank and a cry, the mask tore off.

"Show me your true form!"

Sumire was flabbergasted by the display. In particular, the way Akira was able to pounce upon the enemy with such athleticism. It surprised her as much as it captivated her.

"Is he normally this acrobatic!?"

With a flourish, Akira tossed the mask aside and leaped down from the Shadow's shoulders which had transmogrified into its true forms. One of which in particular was a lanky, impish creature that lounged in the air, equipped with a very phallic attachment. A floating Jack O'Lantern covered in patchwork rags and a witch hat and a seductive-looking fairy at its side.

"Now's our chance to strike, GO!"

"Arsène! Eiha!"

"Zorro! Garu!"

Akira tore off his mask and summoned Arsène. Remembering the prior encounter, he focused an attack on the fairy which had successfully knocked it down in a torrent of black and red energy. As the self-proclaimed natural, Morgana jumped forward and summoned his Persona which let loose a torrent of wind energy targeted at the pumpkin. With both Shadows destroyed, one remained.

However, the last Shadow was most definitely the toughest between the three, almost unfazed by both Akira's and Morgana's attacks. The Shadow seemed to taunt them, floating around, striking and retreating right after. Sumire couldn't help but feel frustrated as she watched Akira and Morgana somewhat struggle against the new Shadow. She looked down at Ryuji who was initially whooping, but was now anxious. She was leaning around him despite the fact she wouldn't be able to touch him. He couldn't see her either so he wouldn't know.

"I'm not crazy! That light was there last time, too! I've seen the Shadows look away from or at it, so it has to mean that they see it. We can use it as an excellent battle tactic to distract them!"

See… Morgana was able to see her somewhat. She remembered what Morgana said. An idea popped up in her head.

"Akira! Let me help!"

Akira stepped back from an attack, but didn't process what she said until she'd already rushed past him. He stared with wide eyes and nearly reached out for her. She came right up to the Shadow, waving, flailing around, whatever to catch its attention. It seemed to work when it annoyedly swatted at her without success.

Morgana saw Sumire and how the Shadow was reacting to her. "Huh… It's like that light has a mind of its own."

"What light do you keep talking about?" Ryuji asked from the sidelines, curiously watching the Shadow swat at nothing. Morgana pointed to where Sumire was.

"The light that's floating right there!" he exclaimed somewhat frustratedly.

"I don't see any light there! Have you gone crazy from how long you were locked up in here?"

Morgana scowled. "Why you--?!" He shook his head and pointed at Akira. "Hey you! It's wide open, so go get it by surprise!"

Akira nodded and charged forward. He unsheathed his knife. Having finally realized the light wouldn't go away, the Shadow saw Akira coming and in a panic, swung blindly towards him. Akira slid under it and pivoted on his feet and crouched to jump. Before the Shadow could turn around, Akira sprang up and slashed upward, slicing it. The Shadow let out a distorted cry and evaporated into a dark mess, leaving nothing behind like the rest.

"Alright, let's keep moving," Akira announced. He then noticed Sumire was off-balance, so he asked out of concern. "You alright?"

Sumire nodded slightly. "Y-Yeah. A bit dizzy, but I'll manage."

Morgana then called out Akira and Ryuji as he sensed something. "I sense a weird, but relaxing feeling." As Ryuji was about to ask, they were alerted by the loud approach of more Shadows, so he pushed them into the room he was referring to.

They were pushed into what Morgana called a safe room, a room in which the Palace Ruler's control over is limited due to the weaker distortion. When they entered, the distortion cleared up a bit, the atmosphere felt much less oppressive and for a moment, they saw what they thought to be a classroom. Morgana explained how Kamoshida's view of the classroom wasn't as distorted, so he had less influence there in the cognitive world.

According to him, this realm was a reality which Kamoshida's, or the ruler's, heart projected. Meaning Kamoshida saw the school as his very own castle he ruled over because his heart made it so within this reality. Morgana called these worlds Palaces, a realm in which one's distorted desires materialized.

He then addressed Akira's question, his change of clothes. In short, he explained that it manifested due to his rebellious willpower which protected one from the distortions of the world. It reflects the image of rebellion the person holds. While Akira and Sumire were able to get a better picture of the situation, Ryuji was left with working out the math.

Ryuji grimaced. "Urgh! I'm so fed up with all of this!" he shouted. He then jabbed a finger towards Morgana. "I'm more curious about you than his clothes! What the hell are you anyways!?"

Morgana immediately tensed up. "I'm a human! I'm an honest-to-god human!"

Ryuji vigorously shook his head. "No! You aren't! You're obviously more like a cat! You can't lie about being a human while looking like that!"

"He really is more like a cat than a human…" Sumire muttered. Akira heard her (only he could anyway) and thought to approach the subject in a much more civil manner than Ryuji.

"So, Morgana," he began calmly, "I've been meaning to ask, but… Why are you a cat? No offense." Morgana seemed to have calmed down a bit while Ryuji on the side was still visibly flustered and confused.

"That's… well… It's because I lost my true form, I think," Morgana said somewhat dejectedly.

"Whaddaya mean 'I think,' shouldn't you know?" Ryuji interjected.

Akira shared a worried glance with Sumire. This was definitely a familiar subject, a very familiar one, so Sumire gave it much thought.

"Basically, I lost my memories of when I had my true form."

"Welcome to the club…" Sumire muttered as she sighed deeply.

Morgana suddenly perked up. "But! I do know how to regain my true form. The reason why I snuck into this castle was for a preliminary investigation of those means." Sumire perked up at this too.

"But?"

"Well… I ended up getting caught though…" He then scowled. "Besides, I've been tortured by Kamoshida too! I'm gonna make him pay for sure!"

Ryuji shook his head. "What is this, a comic book? This is seriously crazy."

Morgana threw a grin at Akira. "If we're gonna keep going, we should hurry along. I'll be counting on your skills this time too, rookie. Got it?" He nodded. So they got ready to leave the room.

Sumire peered over at Morgana, a hopeful feeling like a warm spark ignited in her. Just maybe, whatever plan he had to get his own memories back would in turn help her.

"Oh, wait! I just remembered something!" Ryuji exclaimed as he rummaged into his bag to pull out a gun, a Tkachev it was called. Everyone in the room immediately perked up in surprise. "I brought this just in case! It's a model gun though, so it only makes sounds!"

Morgana frowned. "That's a toy!"

Sumire stared with a bewildered look. "...How did he get that past school security?" Akira handed her an equally surprised glance and shrugged.

Ryuji's excitement didn't go down. "But it looks totally real, so it'll at least fake 'em out. I brought some medicine too. Y'know what they say, 'Providin' is pre… uh... something.' Yeah? Yeah?"

Akira shook his head, whether it'd be from surprise or disapproval or even both. "Did… Did you bring that into school and hide it the whole day?"

Ryuji shrugged with an indifferent look. "Yea? It wasn't that hard. Nobody pays attention to me because Kamoshida has me labeled as a delinquent."

Morgana shook his head. "So you were planning this from the start…"

Sumire palmed her face. "Good grief. He's gonna cause more trouble if he keeps this up…"

Akira sighed. "Well, if all else fails, I guess we can use it to scare the Shadows away."

"Well, fine. If you're ready to go, we'll resume the infiltration," Morgana announced.

The group resumed the infiltration, waiting for the patrolling Shadows to go away. Once they felt they were gone, Morgana snuck out, and seeing there were no Shadows around he gave the signal for the others to go. They snuck further into the castle, avoiding whatever Shadows they could until they came to a tight corridor making this one Shadow more difficult to sneak around. At Morgana's suggestion, they decided to try out the model gun.

Akira stepped out and aimed for the Shadow's head. "Here goes nothing!"

Akira pulled the trigger. A bright flash and a loud thack came from the gun, much to everyone else's shock. Morgana had a confident smirk, while Ryuji and Sumire watched with wide eyes.

Akira never held a gun in his life, the arcade models in shooting games notwithstanding. The recoil of the gun took him off guard to say the least, it was practically jerking his arm back and forth so he had to realign his aim between shots. The flashing and loud sounds forced Akira to flinch each time he fired.

Did it hurt? A little. Was it terrifying? Yes. Was it exhilarating? YES!!

It felt absolutely incredible. Akira, or anyone for that matter, couldn't figure out what forms the Shadow had transmogrified when the first bullet shattered its mask. Akira just saw some silhouettes and fired at them.

All enemies were eliminated in a flash. Akira stood there in utter awe. His breath was bated and his arm was trembling. He actually fired a real gun… Was it a real gun? Wasn't it a model? That aside, a smile shakily formed on his face.

Ryuji stood up from behind cover with Sumire behind him, equally shocked. "Did that toy gun just fire real bullets?!"

Morgana yowled with excitement. "Amazing!"

"W-Well, I'll be damned," Akira said, his voice shaky and breathy.

Morgana nodded in approval. "This is pretty interesting."

Unfortunately, as the group still stood out in the open, a Shadow walked in on them, alerting some other guards. Ryuji immediately ducked under cover as the other three got ready for battle.

"We got company!" Morgana exclaimed.

"Let's go!" Akira exclaimed.

The Shadow immediately transmogrified into another set of those fairies and pumpkins. Before the Shadows got any real chance to act, Akira and Morgana immediately targeted their elemental weaknesses despite getting the jump on them. Both Shadows were swept up by the attacks and were knocked down.

"Frizzy Hair!" Morgana shouted. "Remember the special technique I told you about?"

Akira shared a knowing glance. "Wanna do it now?"

"Yes! Let's go!"

Akira and Morgana charged at the Shadows and assaulted them repeatedly in a flurry of quick attacks. Not even Sumire and Ryuji were able to tell who was who as they darted around the room as nothing but dark blurs. With a flourish, Akira ended the assault as he landed and tugged his gloves back. Sumire came behind him, peering over his right shoulder and waved.

"The show's over!"

"Good night everyone!"

—————————

"Training Hall of Love? What the hell does that mean?" Ryuji asked, reading the tasteless banner above the doors.

That's what the room they came up to was called apparently. The pink ambiance only served to make the atmosphere all the more disturbing. Regardless, the team pushed ahead, only to be met with a sight that made them all feel perturbed, angry, and sick.

"What the hell…" Akira muttered out as they witnessed the horror inside the cages; volleyball players, specifically males, were being tortured. From being whipped by guards, forced to sprint until over-exhaustion, and battered by volleyballs fired from a cannon.

Sumire floated through the bars to observe the volleyball members closer. She found herself purposefully keeping her distance from the dangerous contraptions before reminding herself she was dead anyway. With that thought put to rest, she flew up to one of the members that were being tortured. She cringed and felt cold when she got a good look at his face. It was bloodied and bruised. Tears were rolling down his face. It looked like his form was literally about to shatter like glass any moment.

She looked down at her own clothes, a tracksuit. She frowned as the many possibilities of what her living life was like ran through her mind. Was she an athlete like them? If so, then did she do the same things as them? Did she undergo the same treatment as them?

She was abruptly pulled from her thoughts when she heard a bang and shouting. She looked up and saw Ryuji with his fist slammed against a metal bar, his face contorted into a scornful scowl.

"This is bullshit!" he yelled. He was pissed beyond belief once Morgana had finished explaining how cognitions worked. How the abused players here reflected how the real Kamoshida might be torturing the volleyball team like this.

Akira nodded solemnly. "I get what you mean." He sighed deeply. "This is too far gone."

"Seriously, no service? And no camera too?!" Ryuji growled as he whipped out his phone, only to find it useless. "Fine then! I'll have to memorize their faces instead!"

"Hurry it up or else we'll get caught."

So that's what he did. Ryuji quickly ran from each cage to the next, scanning each volleyball member as acutely as he could. Sumire caught up to them. Akira noticed how downtrodden she was. He wanted to address it, but realized Morgana and Ryuji were still around, so he settled on a comforting smile when she finally noticed he was looking. She smiled back weakly.

Ryuji announced he was done with memorizing everyone's faces and they all decided to retreat. Unfortunately, Kamoshida was waiting for them in the main hall. The man himself and several other guards behind him blocked their only escape route. One of which was much larger and donned a golden sheen, unlike the two other lesser Shadows.

Kamoshida scowled at the mere sight of them, despite apparently expecting them coming this way. "To think there were more thieves running around, but you knaves again? You got nowhere to run now."

"It's over, Kamoshida!" Ryuji shouted. "You're done for once we tell everyone about what you're doing!"

Kamoshida gave a twisted grin. "It seems it's true when they say 'barking dogs seldom bite.' Especially you, the 'Track Traitor,' who acted in violence, ending his teammates' dreams."

Ryuji was visibly affected by this. He grunted and recoiled at the name. The rest of the group eyed him curiously.

"Track Traitor?" Sumire asked.

"The hell are you talking about?" Akira asked pointedly, glaring down at Kamoshida.

Kamoshida laughed as though it were the best joke he's heard and he looked down upon Ryuji. "What a surprise. So you're accompanying him without knowing anything at all? He betrayed his teammates and crushed their dreams, yet he carries on carefree as ever!"

"Sh-Shut up…." Ryuji cried out weakly, but Kamoshida carried on, seemingly pleased with Ryuji's dismay as his wicked grin grew wider.

"He had all the glory in the sport. He was too proud of his own achievements that he caused the track team to disband because he attacked me."

"You didn't like our team! You've been beating us to shit!" Ryuji's voice cracked as he stepped forward on a shaky leg.

"Akira," Sumire called out. She had a scowl on her face. Akira nodded.

Kamoshida let out a mock sigh. "What a tragedy… You blindly trusted this fool, and he's led you right to your death." The smile faded as he turned his back to them and walked away. "Hurry up and dispose of them. I can't stand their stench."

The Shadows transmogrified into a group of dark, twin-horned horses. They surrounded Akira and Morgana, who braced themselves for battle. Sumire flew in to distract the Shadows, but to no avail as they were tunnel-visioned on the Persona-users. The three horses were able to overpower them, draining them of most of their energy and knocking them down to the ground in no more than two good blows. Sumire let out a scream as Akira was knocked onto the floor, helpless.

The Shadows brayed triumphantly. Kamoshida walked over and stepped on Morgana, the remaining Shadow that hadn't transformed, the guard captain it seemed, held Akira down. Sumire felt a dull, uncomfortable sensation in her own back. Ignoring it, she floated around, trying to garner the Shadows' attention without success.

"Oh, you son of a b- MROW!" Morgana yelped as Kamoshida stepped on him.

"What's wrong? Not gonna try fighting like your friends here? That is, if they consider you as a friend." Kamoshida taunted.

Ryuji grimaced. "You're goddamn wrong! It wasn't my fault the track team broke," he said weakly.

Kamoshida turned his attention to him with a sinister grin. "Do you want me to teach you a lesson again? Maybe your other leg needs some more tender, loving care… if you get what I mean."

Sumire's eyes widened in horror as she realized the implication. Akira and Morgana realized this too. Morgana gave Ryuji a pitying glance, while Akira glared at Kamoshida.

"He broke his leg!?" Sumire exclaimed.

"So that's why…" Morgana said.

"R-Ryuji…" Akira grunted as the weight of the Shadow guard began to crush him.

"I... I'm gonna lose again..." Ryuji said dejectedly. He fell to his knees and slammed his fists against the ground as he let out a cry. "Dammit!"

Kamoshida cackled. "That's right. Just give up, and watch your precious pawns die in your pathetic little effort to dethrone me!"

Sumire grew more desperate as her movements became much more disorganized than usual. She frantically flailed her arms in front of the Shadows. She spun around, flipped through the air, anything her body was able to do in an attempt to garner their attention. But the Shadows completely ignored her fruitless efforts.

The Shadow standing atop of Akira spoke haughtily. "You think that annoying lightbulb will do anything?"

"What lightbulb are you talking about? Just kill that mop-headed brat already."

Sumire knelt to Ryuji with desperation. Despite him not being able to explicitly communicate with him, she tried to encourage him anyway.

"Come on Ryuji! Do something! I know you have it in you! Get back up, don't lose to that jerk! You're better than him!"

Akira grunted, struggling to pick his head up under the Shadow's foot. With all he could, he yelled out to Ryuji.

"Ryuji, don't give into what this bastard says! You're better than him!" Akira shouted. The Shadow dug its foot deeper into his back. He grimaced and let out a strained yell. He clenched his fist and looked up to Ryuji with a fierce gaze. "If you want what's yours, then you must take it back!"

Ryuji fell silent as a wry smile formed on his face. "Heh… You're right… I lost everything because of this bastard…" He got up to his feet and glared down at Kamoshida, who so nonchalantly glared back with a smile. "But what I did doesn't excuse you for what you did to the track team."

"Oh please, what can you do? Anything you do to me won't matter and neither will what I do to you afterwards, the school will just write it off as 'self-defense' anyway."

"Shut up! Just shut up! Too bad for you I see you for the real scumbag you are! Kamoshida!" He stepped forward, Kamoshida ordered his guards to stop him. Ryuji growled and jabbed a finger toward him pointedly. "Stop lookin' down on me with that stupid smile on your face!"

You made me wait quite a while.

All of a sudden, Ryuji's eyes turned gold and his face scrunched up in agony. A voice echoed, one that only he and Sumire heard. His ears began to ring and agonizing pain split through his head.

"No way… Another one?" Sumire said aloud.