NewWorldFool: Hello, everybody! New World Fool and CloudStrife07 coming at you with another chapter of The Royal Strikers! And boy are things gonna get juicy now that we've finally circled back to the opening of the story. Oh, and before we continue, I would just like to point out that in this fic, Ren/Joker and Akech/Crow are the only characters in this story and series who have the Third Eye ability. Joker did not teach it to anyone else, as CloudStrife07 and I believe that the other Phantom Thieves having it is merely a gameplay mechanic, as it is always Joker who is expected to find the secrets in P5/P5R, and we never actually see him teaching the other thieves how to use it.
CloudStrife07: Also, I would like to personally apologize to all of our readers who have had to wait so long for this chapter to come out. To be honest, I wasn't really at my most focused with writing this chapter like I said I was going to be. I've been so distracted with enjoying my summer break and playing many different types of video games and reading some nice Minato x Mitsuru fanfics (Mitsuru has officially become my new personal favorite P3 girl. She is just… MMM! I'd highly recommend reading Change of Engagement, Defiance of Fate, Heiress, and One Last Time.) …But recently, I've been struck with grief with the loss of one of my favorite cats in the whole world, and the pain I felt from that loss was what made me actually get off of my lazy ass and actually finish my parts of this chapter. Working hard on this chapter was the biggest way I could keep my mind off of losing my pet. Anyway, I just want to say that I'm sorry for making this chapter take much longer than it really should have. Hopefully, I will do much better with Chapter 9.
NewWorldFool: Well, I don't think we have anything else to talk about, so let us start the game!
Chapter Eight
Alice's Secret
Jail of Lust-Shibuya Crossing
June 18th, 2017
Joker, Violet, and Crow leapt from rooftop to rooftop, making sure to attract the attention of the large number of guards that were patrolling the area near the wall that had emerged during their exploits yesterday while also making sure to not stay in one place for too long before finally coming to a halt on top of one of the rooftops.
Joker was thinking back to the conversation he was having with everyone about their assigned roles for this distraction. While Joker, Violet, and Crow were busy fighting off the enemy Shadows and while Sophie was busy drawing away some of the Shadows from the fight, the search lights surrounding the wall will be dealt with by Skull, Panther, and Mona. While that's all being taken care of, Oracle will be working on hacking into the wall's systems from the console on the other side of the wall with Fox, Queen, and Noir protecting her from any potential enemies.
Should the plan go well, the thieves will all be able to make their way into Alice's castle and reach the source of where her Treasure may be.
"Joker! Violet! Crow! Be careful! We got one coming up!" Oracle's voice said over the trio's communicators just as the sound of a helicopter rotor reached their ears. A moment later, one of the helicopter Shadows that the trio had seen emerged, holding a very real gatling gun flew up and aimed directly at Joker before it opened fire.
"It's starting!" Fox's voice said over the communicator.
"Then we're on!" Queen's voice said shortly afterward.
"Right, let's go!" said Noir's voice as Joker, Violet, and Crow darted out of the way of the strange helicopter's gunfire and began sliding down the side of the building with the helicopter trying to catch up with them. Violet slid ahead of Joker and stuck her tongue out at him, causing Joker to shoot a devious smirk at her and try to catch up to her, while Crow simply sighed and shook his head in annoyance before chasing after Joker and Violet.
Some things never change… the black-masked figure thought as he and his comrades deftly dodged the helicopter's gunfire while continuing to slide down the building before Joker made a sharp turn and began to run directly towards the helicopter before he jumped, grabbed on to the airborne vehicle, pulled himself on top of it, before grabbing a hold of its mask and tearing it from the helicopter in what seemed to be a huge burst of blood.
The helicopter, now completely and utterly disabled, fell towards the ground. Joker managed to jump off the helicopter and land safely on the ground right before the vehicle crashed into the pavement and exploded in a fiery wreck. He was quickly joined by Crow and Violet as the doors of several police cars opened, and from them emerged an army's worth of Sentries.
"Whoa… there's a lot of them!" Sophie said as, with looks of defiance on their faces, Joker produced a small combat knife from his coat sleeve, while Violet drew her rapier and Crow produced a blood-red serrated sword. As one, the three masked individuals pointed their weapons towards the strange creatures, issuing an unspoken challenge.
As though accepting the challenge, the Sentries began to swarm Joker, Crow, and Violet, some of them bursting apart and taking the form of Beguiling Girls and Crypt-Dwelling Pyromaniacs.
At that moment, Mona's voice spoke up on their communicators. "Joker, Crow, Violet, they're all yours. All right, let's begin the operation!" Mona declared before Oracle spoke up.
"That was one hell of an entrance, there, guys! They're all riled up!" Oracle said. "Just keep at it! Go ham until you've drawn every last bit of attention!"
"Don't have to tell me twice, Oracle…" Crow said with a hint of bloodlust in his voice before he charged at the group of creatures, his sword slicing through the enemies like a knife through hot butter, fittingly so as the blade was sometimes shrouded in flames and what looked like darkness.
"I've gotta say, Crow, the way the Shadows fight and attack here seems right up your alley!" Joker said as he joined the fray, his knife similarly covered in the same darkness as Crow's sword.
"Are you kidding me, Joker?!" Crow said with an exhilarated laugh as he tore through another batch of enemies. "This place is a fucking playground for me and Loki! So many Shadows to rip, tear, shred, butcher, and DESTROY!"
"Oh, boy, Crow's bloodlust is acting up," Violet said as her light-coated rapier cut through several enemies. "Just remember who your allies are, okay? We don't want any friendly fire accidents, be they an actual accident or accidentally on purpose."
"You really think so little of me, Violet?" Crow laughed chaotically as he cut through a few more enemies. "Relax, I'm not stupid enough to not differenate friend and foe." he said.
"That's debatable…" Joker said under his breath before Mona's voice came in over everyone's communicators.
"Look out! We've got incoming!" Mona warned as what looked like a small group of police squad cars came racing onto the scene, encircling Joker, Crow, and Violet. A few moments later, more Sentries emerged from the squad cars, some of them climbing onto the squad cars and transforming into Crypt-Dwelling Pyromaniacs, Beguiling Girls, and Hunting Puss-In-Boots.
"Okay… this might be a bit more than the three of us can handle on our own…" said Joker before Oracle's voice came on the communicator.
"We made it! Let's rock, Joker!" said Oracle before the sound of explosions rang out from above. Joker, Crow, and Violet looked up just in time to see a pair of burning, damaged searchlights come careening down from the skyscrapers, exploding and destroying some of the squad cars and Shadows on impact, forcing Joker, Violet, and Crow to shield themselves from the force of the blast as Skull, Mona, and Panther came leaping away from the blast, cocky smirks on their faces.
"We late to the party?" asked Skull.
"Party's just getting started," replied Joker as he and the others engaged the Shadows once more.
Skull sent several enemies flying as he leapt into the air and brought his weapon down, Panther, meanwhile, used her whip to down several Shadows at once, while Mona weaved his way through several Shadows before downing those same Shadows in a single stroke. Joker and Violet, meanwhile, worked in tandem with each other as though they were dancing as they swung their knife and rapier, striking down enemy Shadows as they went. Crow, meanwhile, was laughing maniacally as he ripped and tore his way through the Shadows with his sword.
"Heh, nice moves," said Oracle as she watched the battle unfold from within Necronomicon while working to get the wall blocking access to Alice's castle down. "Now, then… how d'ya like this?" Oracle muttered as she put the finishing touches on her hacking. "And… a-boop!" she said as she pressed a button, which immediately caused the wall to start sparking violently as it began to retract into the ground, causing some of the Shadows to turn in that direction and come face to face with an angry-looking Queen riding on Johanna, who then proceeded to mow down a number of the enemy Shadows while Fox soared through the air and cut down a number of enemy Shadows as he flew past while Noir came out swinging with her axe, cutting down several enemies that were in her path.
During all of this, Joker saw an opening that would allow him, Violet, and Crow to finish off the enemies in one fell swoop. "Everyone, now!" he called.
On Joker's cue, Violet and Crow leapt into the air alongside him, grabbing a hold of their masks as they did so.
"Ravage them, Arsene!" called Joker as he tore off his mask, causing Arsene to appear in a blast of blue fire.
"Show them, Cendrillon!" cried Violet as Cendrillon emerged in a blast of blue flames.
"Take 'em down, Loki!" bellowed Crow as Loki emerged in a blast of black and red flames.
The resulting explosion of light and darkness energy from the trio of Personas was tremendous to say the least. Not a single enemy was able to clear the blast radius of the attack. Joker let out an exhilarated laugh as he pulled on his glove.
"Oh, it is good to be back!" Joker said with a cocky smirk.
"That it is, Joker! Now let's mop up the rest of these Shadows so we can get to 705!" said Mona.
The next moment, Sophie showed up and reported that she had successfully lost her pursuers. With the combined power of all ten Phantom Thieves plus Crow, the remaining Shadows were effectively dealt with, leaving the path to Alice's castle wide open.
"All right, everyone! Let's move out!" called Joker as the last Shadow dissolved away.
As one, the Phantom Thieves and Crow made a beeline to the side route to Alice's castle.
Alice's Castle-A Short While Later
Getting inside of Alice's castle was, as it turned out, easier said than done, as it turned out that some of Alice's guards, including a Succubus that served as one of Alice's captains, had decided to stay behind than partake on the all-out assault on the Phantom Thieves, not that that kept them from getting clobbered by the Phantom Thieves anyway.
Upon entering the castle proper, the Phantom Thieves found themselves faced with a puzzle in the form of finding the correct mannequins in order to activate the elevator leading higher up into the citadel. However, this puzzle proved to be a cakewalk for Joker and Crow thanks to the Third Eye ability they had been gifted by Yaldabaoth as part of the God of Control's game.
Upon arriving at the level closest to the rooftop, the eleven Persona-Users found themselves face to face with a particularly large Shadow in the form of a dog, complete with a sinister red aura surrounding it.
"Hmph. So now we have to deal with Alice's dog now?" snarked Crow, a sneer evident on his face.
The Shadow howled, summoning a number of Sentires to its side, before bursting apart and taking the form of a large quadrupedal monster with white and black fur similar to a leopard, a mouth filled to the brim with fangs that looked as though they could easily chew through steel, and razor sharp claws.
Joker felt a pang of concern run through him. True, he had fully completed his Persona Compendium at one point, but he hadn't seen one like this before… could it perhaps be a Cognition of some sort?
This theory was completely dashed when Oracle spoke up. "Watch out for that big Shadow, guys! I'm not seeing any weaknesses on that thing!" she said.
"Not the first time we've had to deal with something like that," said Joker as he drew his knife while the others drew their own weapons, some of them engaging the Sentries. "We just need to hit it with an ailment, then follow up with a technical hit. Panther, got a Dormina in you?"
"Way ahead of you, Joker!" said Panther as she took off her mask with a cry of "Dance, Carmen!"
What appeared to be a stream of bubbles appeared underneath the large beast, before it quite suddenly fell asleep. Seizing the opening, Crow summoned Loki and blasted the beast with Agi, forcibly waking the beast up and doing extra damage to it.
However, the beast wasn't quite finished yet. The beast proceeded to lick its foreleg, its entire body becoming enshrouded by the tell-tale green glow of healing.
From there, the battle settled into something of a rhythm. While some of the Phantom Thieves dealt with the Sentries, others fought the large beast, inflicting it with an ailment before landing a technical hit to deal extra damage to the beast. The beast itself, meanwhile, attacked with strong physical attacks and occasionally healed itself.
The battle was grueling, but in the end, Crow managed to land one last devastating strike onto the enemy. The beast had fallen and the Sentries dispersed. Suddenly, from where the beast once stood, a brand new Persona mask was laying down on the ground. However, Joker was quick to realize that the mask did not take the form of his.
Instead, the mask took the form of what looked like a black knight's mask… Crow's mask. A moment later, the mask zoomed towards Crow, merging with his mask in a burst of black and crimson fire.
"What's this?" Sophie asked with her electric blue eyes taking the form of stars, indicating that she was curious. "The Shadow didn't become a mask for Crow instead of Joker?"
"Oh yeah, that's right… Crow has possession of the Wild Card too." Joker said to himself in amazement.
"Hmm…Amazing, to think that I still have this power even after all this time… So, Bandersnatch is my new Persona then. How interesting…" Crow mused to himself before realizing that everyone was looking at him. "What are you all standing around for? Let's go already!"
Rooftop-A Few Moments Later
As the group reached the top of the tallest tower of Alice's castle, the Phantom Thieves and Crow could all see a big podium with a big rainbow sign that had Alice's name written in all caps up ahead the center. However, something else caught everyone's attention as they all looked around at their surroundings. It looked as if the top of the tower was concealed by a gigantic bird cage with a single, gigantic chain surrounding it, and a giant padlock keeping the chain in place.
"Is this some kind of… birdcage?" Fox asked in confusion.
"What is this doing here?" Queen asked in response.
"And where is Alice?" Violet added to the conversation.
"I assume that she's hiding, like the pathetic little coward she is." Crow said with a snarl.
Amongst everyone's conversation, Panther looked up at the top of the birdcage and her eyes bolted wide open.
"Hey guys!" Panther said, grabbing everyone's attention as she pointed up to the top of the birdcage. "Look up there!"
One by one, the group all looked up to the top of the birdcage and everyone's eyes bolted wide open at the sight above their heads. There was a giant, glowing, pinkish, shimmery aura that looked just like the aura of a Treasure that exists before the Treasure itself takes form, and it was covering up the top of the cage.
"Is that Alice's Treasure?!" Mona asked before he took a large sniff at the scent that was coming from the large aura. His eyes softened. "...No… It definitely does smell Treasure-esque, but it doesn't smell specifically like one person's Treasure."
Suddenly, Sophie let out an audible gasp for the whole group to hear. "Everyone, Shadows ahead."
She was right. Up ahead, in the dead center of the rooftop, were a couple of Sentry shadows. One of them was carrying a flashlight while the other was holding a baton, and they were both standing in front of what looked like a large pile of glowing pink jewels. It wasn't hard for Joker to recognize those jewels as more stolen Desires.
"Have you brought all the Desires?" The Sentry with the flashlight asked.
"Yes sir, this is all of them so far." answered the Sentry with the baton.
"More are coming soon. Capture every last one of them, seize their Desires, and bring them here." The Sentry with the flashlight ordered.
"Understood, sir!" The Sentry with the baton replied.
With that said, the pile of Desires transmogrified into what looked like a smaller version of the shimmery aura at the top of the birdcage. The smaller aura slowly rose up from the ground, ascending up and into the larger shimmery aura, becoming one with it. Afterwards, the two Sentry shadows left the rooftop, leaving the group to look back up the giant, shimmery aura.
"So, those jewels are the Desires?" Panther asked rhetorically. "But why did they get sucked up into that light?"
"I think the answer is quite obvious, Panther." Crow spoke up. "That Treasure-like shimmery aura up there is the collection of all of the Desires that Alice has stolen."
"Yeah, and Mona did say that it didn't smell like specifically one person's Treasure." Joker added to the conversation.
"But that was a pile of gems…" Skull interjected. "How come they turned into that shimmery thing?"
"This is just speculation, but that shimmery aura is actually the original form of a Desire." Mona answered Skull's question. "After all, people's Desires don't naturally have a single, concrete form. Since we all find our own Desires precious, that could be why they turned into gems when they were being stolen."
"Then Alice truly is stealing those men's Treasures." Noir added. "Whenever we secured our route to the Treasure in palaces, the Treasures always first appeared as shimmery auras too, and then they took shape whenever they were about to be stolen."
"But wait, what made them all turn back into light?" Oracle asked. "Their Desires are still stolen."
Joker pondered on the possibility as to why the jewels reverted back to their original shimmery aura forms despite being stolen. "Maybe I'm wrong, but perhaps it's possible that Alice is now considered the owner of all those Desires now that they are all here in this birdcage. Since Alice doesn't think they can be stolen back, they have all reverted back to their original aura forms."
"That does seem to follow logically…" Queen commented.
"At any rate, if we reclaim the Desires and release them from this cage, all those men may well return to normal." Fox deducted.
"That seems like the most likely scenario." Violet said.
"One moment!" Sophie interjected. "How does one steal light?"
"It's not the light itself that we need to steal, Sophie." Joker explained to the young looking AI. "We first have to make it materialize by sending out a calling card."
Sophie tilted her head in confusion. "A calling card? How does that work?"
"When we first started off as Phantom Thieves last year, whenever we had to steal a Treasure from a Palace ruler, we would send them a calling card to inform them that something they are in possession of, something they hold very dear, is about to be taken from them. Once that's done, it changes their cognition and makes their Treasure take shape, because they're aware that their possession is being targeted." Mona helped explain. "Since the Desires are basically the Treasures of the common people, it should still work the same way."
"I got it… I think." Sophie deadpanned.
Crow groaned in annoyance and shook his head.
"Are we sure it'll work, though?" Panther asked with a concerned look. "This isn't a Palace with a Treasure…"
"Nothing is obtained without action." Fox said with determination. "We must at least try first."
"Well said, Fox-senpai." Violet replied with a smile.
Amongst everyone's conversation, Skull's attention was drawn over to the podium that stood way out on the other side of the rooftop.
"Hey guys…" Skull said, grabbing everyone's attention. "Whatta ya think that podium is for?
"Not really sure." Queen responded. "It does, however, literally have Alice's name written on the top of it, so it must have some sort of significance."
"Imma go check it out!" Skull said as he began to sprint towards the podium.
However, Skull's sprint was short lived as his whole body suddenly came crashing into what looked like a red jail cell door that just appeared out of nowhere. The moment Skull's body came crashing into the cell door, it emanated something like electrical short circuiting sound.
"OWWWWWWWWW!" Skull howled out like an animal in pain, as the red door went invisible again.
"Skull!" Joker cried out as he ran over to his bleach-haired friend and placed a hand on Skull's shoulder. "Are you alright?"
Skull didn't say anything. His only form of response was a painful wince.
"What was that?" Queen asked with her eyes bolted wide open from behind her mask.
"I swear Skull ran into some kind of jail cell door." Oracle responded. "Is there another barrier?"
Suddenly, Sophie tilted her head with her eyebrow cocked in confusion as she pointed in the direction of where the door appeared.
"Am I… hearing something?" Sophie asked herself as she slowly approached the invisible door.
As she walked up to the invisible door, she slowly lifted up her right hand as if she intended to touch it.
"Wait, Sophie!" Violet cried out to the young looking AI. "Don't touch tha- !"
Violet's plea was cut short when Sophie placed her hand on the door, causing it to become visible again and created the same sounds of electrical short circuits. However, amongst the short circuiting sounds, another sound emerged from within the door. It sounded something like… a set of voices.
"Ugh, would you just go away?" A voice that sounded like a prideful young woman came from the door.
Everyone in the group, except for Sophie, all widened their eyes from behind their masks at the sudden voices that were coming out from within the door.
"What do you think you're doing, looking at guys like that?" Another voice came out, one that sounded like a sarcastic young woman.
"You are like, suuuuch a waste of space, ya know?" A third voice came out, one that sounded like a mocking young woman.
"Totally! You're such a loser! It hurts to look at you!" A fourth voice came out, one that sounded like a spiteful young woman.
"No… I just…" A fifth voice came out, but this time it sounded familiar… It sounded just like Alice's voice, only slightly higher and like she was feeling emotional.
The voices all seemed to stop after that point. Sophie removed her hand from the red jail cell door as it quickly faded away into invisibility once again.
"Sophie!" Violet cried out as she quickly ran over to the bright redheaded AI, turned her around, and held onto her shoulders with a worried look behind her mask. "Are you okay? You're not feeling hurt, are you?"
"I'm fine, Violet, no problem here." Sophie replied with a reassuring smile.
"What was that just now?" Joker asked as he gently helped Skull get back up onto his feet. "What were those voices, and why did one of them sound like Alice?"
Sophie's face went from her reassuring smile to a more mournful look.
"A memory hidden by the Monarch." Sophie answered softly.
"A memory?" Oracle asked.
"Indeed, but there's more to it." Sophie responded. "That memory we all just heard is the key to unlocking this barrier."
"How's that?" Panther asked
"Look at the outside of this cage." Sophie said as she pointed her finger, causing everyone to look up at the giant padlock. "It's currently locked."
"You're right…" Noir said. "What's that doing there?"
"It will require a key, which we will find at the source of where those voices came from… It will be some sort of secret room." Sophie answered. "But we cannot find this room here. We need to return to reality for that."
"Reality? Why is that?" Violet asked.
"The room has been completely isolated. Its entrance exists only in the real world." Sophie answered.
"And, pray tell, how exactly do you know all of this?" Crow asked with his arms crossed and his eyes narrowed from behind his mask.
"I do not know." Sophie responded with an unsure look on her face. "I merely sense it."
Crow remained silent as he looked away with a scowl behind his mask.
"Maybe the lock on this cage is somehow linked to a lock in Alice's heart." Mona hypothesized with his paw beneath his chin. "If Sophie is right, and what we heard just now is indeed a memory of the Monarch, then that must mean that it's extremely important to her… I have a feeling that memory is acting as the lock on her heart, keeping us from getting past that barrier."
"So the lock is an important memory…" Panther whispered amongst herself with a solemn look on her face.
"Then in order for us to advance any further, we'll first have to find the source of where that memory is coming from, and confront it." Crow theorized.
"That logic is indeed sound, but…" Fox froze in the middle of his sentence. "How is it possible?"
"Honestly, I'm really just going off on speculation." Mona admitted. "I've never seen anything like this before."
"As much as I hate to admit it, even after all my years of working in the Metaverse and in Palaces, neither have I." Crow added to the conversation.
"This could be another difference between the Palaces and this Jail." Queen theorized.
"Hold up, we got another problem on our hands." Skull spoke up with his hands in his pockets . "If that memory is coming from the real world… Where're we even supposed to start lookin'?"
"Why don't we try thinking about the things that those voices said in that memory?" Joker suggested. "Maybe they'll give us some sort of clue."
"Hmm…" Oracle hummed to herself as she pondered. "I could be wrong, but didn't it sound like someone was getting bullied?"
Panther thought along the lines of what Oracle suggested and thought back to what one of the voices said.
"'Looking at guys like that.'" Panther whispered to herself. "Maybe during a time when Alice was in highschool?"
"That could be!" Noir exclaimed.
"Brilliant deduction, Panther." Oracle complemented the red latex cat girl.
"I…" Panther paused with a sad behind her mask. "... I'm just no stranger to hearing that kind of stuff, is all."
"Panther…" Mona said, sympathetically.
"Wait!" Skull cried out as his eyes were now beaming towards Panther. "You're sayin' that you used to look at guys too?!"
Joker looked over at his blonde comrade and friend. Skull's question, for the most part, sounded like it was just purely out of his own dense curiosity, but Joker could almost swear that he had detected a bit of jealousy hidden in Skull's voice.
"T- That's not important!" Panther snapped at Skull with a little bit of pink showing at the bottom of her cheeks, right beneath her mask.
"If Panther is correct, then does that mean that the key we need is somewhere in Alice's old school?" Queen asked the group.
"That would be logical." Sophie responded while pointing her right index finger upwards.
"Alright, then let's head back to the real world for now." Joker suggested to the team. "We'll try searching the internet for information on wherever Alice may have gone to school, and continue on from there."
The Shibuya Accessway
Futaba had already gotten to work on researching Alice's background, trying to see if she could find anything on Alice's upbringing and where she may have gone to school. Since Alice was already a pretty popular celebrity, information on where she attended school should have been pretty simple to get a hold of. However…
"What the what?!" Futaba exclaimed in disbelief, grabbing everyone's attention. "How are there no results?"
"Really? But shouldn't things like where celebs went to school be easy to look up online?" Ann asked in surprise.
"Usually, yeah, but this time? No hits, not even on the underground sites." Futaba answered disappointedly. "All I'm seeing is fake info from deluded fans. Even if Alice had changed her name, there'd still be traces of that somewhere, usually…"
"There's shit even you can't find, Futaba?" Ryuji asked in disbelief.
"This clearly has to be the work of a scrub job." Akechi said with his usual, stoic facial expression. "Someone, possibly Alice herself, purposely wanted to keep her background a mystery."
"But isn't it, like, impossible to erase stuff from the internet on your own?" Ann asked the former detective.
"I wouldn't be surprised if Alice decided to hire a professional hacker to erase any traces of her history before she became an idol." Akechi said with his eyes darted to the side.
"This is quite the setback…" Yusuke said with worry in his eyes. "If we don't discover Alice's alma mater, we'll never find a way into that secret room."
"Damn it…" Ren cursed to himself with his right hand clenched in a fist. "How else are we supposed to figure out where Alice went to highschool?"
"What if Mako-chan's sister looks into it for us?." Haru suggested as she looked over to the eldest member of the group. "Niijima-san is a prosecutor-turned-lawyer. Maybe she'll have access to some physical records of Alice's history that we cannot gather ourselves."
While it's true that Sae could be a massive help in getting her hands on some physical information on Alice, Makoto, however, didn't look too keen on the idea… She looked rather afraid of it, truth be told.
"Something wrong, Makoto-senpai?" Sumire asked the eldest member of the group.
"Well, it's just… I'm not sure how I'd go about asking Sis for the information." Makoto responded in a worried tone.
"Can't you just be open and honest about it?" Ren asked. "Just say that you need to know specifically where Alice Hiiragi attended highschool."
"It's not that simple." Akechi objected. "Physical records of personal information and histories are legally protected, so it's pretty unlikely that Sae-san will just willingly agree to get it for us."
"Oh… That makes sense." Ren replied in defeat. "She'd also most likely ask us specifically why we need to know where Alice went to school."
"I hear ya there. I really don't wanna wind up on the other side of a table with her getting all 'Answer me!'" Futaba said with her best impression of Sae's assertive behavior, which caused some of the group to let out a few chuckles.
"Ah, okay. Alice Hiiragi's school." A familiar voice said from outside of the group.
One by one, the group of young thieves turned their attention to the source of where the familiar voice came from. Much to there surprise, as well as their displeasure, Zenkichi Hasegawa was seen walking up to them.
Ren narrowed his eyes. "So, the shady detective appears once again."
"I'm PubSec, not just some cop detect-" Zenkichi paused in the middle of his sentence as his face turned to a look of discomfort. "Wait, I'm not shady. Am I?"
"Yes, quite." Haru responded with a smile.
"These kids are something else…" Zenkichi whispered amongst himself with his eyes closed, once again feeling disturbed by Haru's ability to be so cold with such an innocent smile.
"So whaddya want?" Ryuji asked as he glared at Zenkichi.
"C'mon, enough with the cold shoulder. You know I'm trying to help you out." Zenkichi said with a friendly smile.
"You, help us?" Ann asked sarcastically while glaring at Zenkichi with distrust.
"Precisely…" Zenkichi responded. "You wanna know where Alice Hiiragi went to highschool, right? For some reason, there's almost no personal info available on Alice Hiiragi, especially prior to her debut. That is just a big ol' blank, as shown on the internet, of course. So, since this is giving you all a hard time, I've swooped in to lend a hand. Intel on Alice is no sweat for me over in PubSec HQ, so how 'bout it? Want some help?"
"Nah, we're good." Ryuji bluntly rejected Zenkichi's offer. "We'll handle it on our own."
"Yep, just a little more time, and I'll get it myself." Futaba added to Ryuji's rejection.
"Oh come on now!" Zenkichi whined at the group. "This is a real-deal connection, here! Just be grateful and take the intel!"
"We're sorry, we just have zero trust in the police." Haru said, once again with her innocent smile.
"I really wish you'd stop smiling when you say stuff like that…" Zenkichi said with his eyes closed before heaving a sigh. "Fine, I've apparently gotta earn your trust first. I get it."
As Zenkichi turned around and began to walk away from the group, Ren couldn't help but ponder at the fact that it was already looking like getting any information about Alice on their own was going to be a serious pain in the ass. There's not a single thing that can qualify as reliable information on the internet, and asking Sae, as Akechi put it, wouldn't be any easier since physical records cannot just simply be handed out, and it would potentially lead to an interrogation between Sae and the rest of the group.
Zenkichi, however, was already willing to help give them the information that they needed, and it would really help speed things up so they can get their job done as quickly as possible… Ren wasn't sure whether Zenkichi was doing this purely out of the kindness of his own heart, or if he was going to want something in return afterwards if Ren accepted the intel that Zenkichi had to share, but whatever it was, it couldn't be something that'd hurt the group for some easy information, and it was information that Ren and the rest of the group could really use, and fast.
Ren heaved a sigh.
"Hey, wait!" Ren called out, causing Zenkichi to stop and turn back to the young teenager. "...What do you know about Alice's history?"
Zenkichi had a look of surprise on his face for a good few seconds, which eventually turned into a relieved smile. Almost everyone in the group turned their heads towards Ren, eyes bolted wide open in disbelief.
"Dude, what are you doing?!" Ryuji practically shouted at his friend.
"You're really just gonna bend to this guy's will?!" Ann asked in a displeased tone.
"Hey, I don't exactly like it either…" Ren argued back at his friends. "But refusing his help would have just led us to wrecking our heads, trying to get our hands on the information we need. Accepting Zenkichi's help allows us to spare ourselves a massive headache, and to get our job done as soon as possible. It's a bitter pill to swallow, accepting help from a cop… but I think it's still a smarter move than refusing his help and just making our job harder for ourselves."
Both Ryuji and Ann wanted to argue further with Ren and talk him out of accepting aid from the police, but they both still understood that given the current situation that they were all in, Ren did indeed have a valid point. All they could do is grumble in defeat.
"I'm glad you're able to see the benefits here, Amamiya." Zenkichi said as he walked up to the group. "Anyway, to answer your question… Alice Hiiragi is, in fact, your senpai."
Once again, almost everyone in the group bolted their eyes wide open in surprise at the revelation that Zenkichi had just dropped upon them.
"She went to Shujin?!" Ann asked in disbelief.
Zenkichi nodded at the platinum blonde girl before looking back at Ren. "And don't you forget it… 'cause you owe me one now, got it?"
And there it is. Zenkichi was expecting something in return for the information he had to share.
With nothing left to say, Zenkichi once again turned around and walked away from the group, leaving them all alone once more.
"Welp, there he goes." Ryuji spoke out.
"It's honestly hard to gauge whether he's friend or foe." Yusuke said, causing some of the other members to nod their heads in agreement.
"And how did he know exactly where Alice attended highschool?" Sumire asked with her hands behind her back.
"Were none of you paying attention to what he said earlier?" Akechi asked the group with an annoyed look on his face. "He said that gaining access on Alice's personal records was no problem for him over at HQ, so it's no surprise that he'd be able to figure out her history."
"I already figured that, but…" Sumire paused in the middle of her thoughts. "I actually meant why. Why did Hasegawa-san happen to know where Alice went to school. I thought those records were supposed to be legally protected."
"...Maybe the police already their eye on Alice as well." Makoto suggested with her eyes narrowed.
"It's possible." Morgana said. "And that would mean…"
"That we can trust him… for now, at least." Ren concluded.
"Then I guess all we can do now is give it a try." Sumire said with a bit of comfort in her voice. "We'll be able to find find the secret room if we go to Shujin, right?"
Suddenly, Sophia pinged back up onto Ren's phone screen.
"That appears to be correct." Sophia confirmed. "Everything should go SHOOWOWOWOWOW and we'll have access."
"WOWOWOWOWOW, huh? Sure, got it." Ryuji chuckled in amusement at Sophia's dorky little portal sounds.
"Alright, then let's all head over to Shujin, ASAP." Ren declared, with everyone else nodding in agreement.
Shujin Academy
It felt both pretty nostalgic and so strange at the same time, seeing Shujin Academy again after just three months. After finishing up his second year of highschool and saying his final goodbye to Ms. Kawakami, Ren felt so sure that he wasn't going to see Shujin again for a long, long time.
"Hey, are we sure this is the right place?" Ryuji asked out loud.
Sophia pinged back up onto Ren's phone in response to Ryuji's question.
"I have no doubt." Sophia confirmed Ryuji's question. "This place gives me the same sensation as when I touched the barrier inside the birdcage."
"To think something like this would be what brought us back here…" Makoto commented with a sense of disappointment.
"I hear ya there, Makoto." Ren added to the conversation. "I honestly thought I wasn't going to come back here again until like a 10 year later highschool reunion."
"That aside, it's still quite surprising to have learned that Alice Hiiragi was a student of Shujin." Haru spoke up.
"I understand the feeling, and I figured that I would have known better than anyone about celebrity graduates during my time as student council president." Makoto replied.
"Perhaps she had a past here that she wished to erase." Yusuke pointed out.
"You know, I think you may actually be onto something, Yusuke." Ren commented with his eyes narrowed. "When Sophia first said we had to go out into the real world to find the source of where that memory was coming from, I found it weird how finding that memory wasn't going to be possible within her own heart… But now thinking back to those voices we heard in the birdcage, those cruel set of words and that painful cry… It seems that maybe the reason why that memory wasn't anywhere to be found in Alice's heart was because it was, as you said, a memory that Alice wished to have left behind."
"I don't know if Alice was one of the instigators, or if she was the victim of such bullying…" Yusuke said solemly. "However she experienced it, it's a memory that left such a gaping wound in her heart that she refuses to even acknowledge the truth of the matter."
"And that truth took place at this very academy…" Akechi spoke up. "That does perfectly explain why the secret room is here and not in Alice's own heart."
Ann let out a devastated sounding groan. Hearing about how Alice was involved with bullying during her highschool days reminded Ann too much about how a lot of the Shujin students used to treat her like she was Kamoshida's little slut, despite Kamoshida always being the one making advances onto her without her consent.
"Welp, we should get movin'." Ryuji suggested.
Ren nodded in agreement as he held up his phone while Sophia was still up on the screen. "Sophia, what should we do next?"
"While we may not be in Shibuya, this place is still linked to its Jail." Sophia instructed. "Imputting the proper EMMA keyword should permit access as usual."
"Alright. Brace yourselves, everyone." Ren commanded as everyone nodded firmly in response.
Ren pulled up the EMMA app and typed in Alice's name into the search bar. Once her name was entered, the keyword bar appeared next. Ren pressed his thumb onto the microphone button.
"Wonderland…" Ren spoke firmly, and he, along with everyone else, felt the familiar sensation of being transported from their world into the Metaverse.
Trauma Cell of Lust
Upon re-entering the Metaverse, the Phantom Thieves and Crow all found themselves inside of what appeared to be a normal Shujin classroom. However, all of the desks and chairs were all pushed back into the corners while also being stacked on top of one another.
"So… the secret room is a classroom?" Mona asked in confusion.
"Is this what a school looks like?" Sophie asked as she curiously looked around the classroom. "It's rather different than how the internet makes it appear."
"That's probably because normal classrooms in the real world don't have desks and chairs stacked on top of each other in each corner." Joker commented.
Suddenly, Panther noticed a couple of black mists begin to appear and take form at the front of the classroom.
"Hey, look!" Panther exclaimed as she pointed over to the mists, grabbing everyone's attention.
The mists took the shapes of two teenage girls wearing the basic Winter Shujin uniforms . One of them had long, silky black hair, but the areas of where her eyes were supposed to be were nothing but empty voids of black. She was sitting on top of a a single desk, with her phone out, at the front of the classroom. The other girl had short, dark brown hair. Her hairstyle looked very much like Alice's. She was laying down on the ground, trembling and flinching like she was in pain.
The group all heard sounds of whimpering and crying coming from the girl who was laying down on the ground, while the other girl sitting on top of the desk had this look of annoyance.
"Are you seriously crying?" The girl sitting on top of the desk asked in an arrogant tone. "How pathetic. You actually think you can make me go easy on you by acting like you're actually hurt… You tricked him the same way too, didn't you?"
The Arrogant Girl moved her right foot over to the other girl laying on the floor, and delivered a hard stomp onto the other girl's chest, causing her to cry out in pain and cry harder.
"Didn't you?!" The Arrogant Girl shouted demandingly.
"No, I…" The other girl spoke in a voice that sounded just like Alice's, all while choking on her own sobs. "I'd never do that…"
"Don't you dare lie to me!" The Arrogant Girl shouted as she continued to stomp her foot down hard onto what seemed to be a younger version of Alice, making her cry out even more.
"What… What IS this?!" Panther loudly exclaimed in disbelief at what she was witnessing.
"Hmph, I should take another video of you. I need another recorded reminder that you are just a worthless loser beneath my foot." The Arrogant Girl said as she held her phone up over the young Alice's body, supposedly video recording what she was doing to her.
"No! Please, stop!" The young Alice begged while still crying.
"Will you just shut the hell up already?! God!" The Arrogant Girl shouted as she once again stomped hard onto the young Alice, causing her to scream in pain.
"Stop it, please!" The young Alice sobbed even more in misery. "I can't take it anymore!"
"I said shut the HELL UP!" The Arrogant Girl yelled while stomping on Alice even harder, and repeatedly too, despite young Alice's pleaing sobs for mercy. "Seriously, why are you still alive?!"
The entire group of thieves could only watch in horror at the sight of this arrogant teenage girl physically tormenting a younge Alice, and not allowing her to have any mercy even though she is sobbing and begging for it. It was absolutely nauseating how this arrogant teenage girl also had the audacity to record Alice's misery while still tormenting her and things like why Alice was even still alive. Even though he himself was a merciless, shadow slaughtering psychopath, even Crow himself was feeling shocking and appalled by what was happening in front of him… It almost reminded him too much of how much of a merciless monster his own father was.
"Do us a favor… and die already!" spat the girl, a look of the purest loathing on her face as she stalked up towards the Phantom Thieves, before she started convulsing and finally transformed into a large black entity with four arms, all of them carrying an axe that looked as though it could cut one of the Phantom Thieves in half with one swing.
"What is this…?" snarled Crow as his hand drew near his sword.
"No kidding, what the Hell?" shouted Skull in shock.
"Careful, everyone!" shouted Joker.
Suddenly, the entire classroom rippled and disappeared, leaving what seemed to be a concrete lot that was boxed in by stacks upon stacks of prison cells, with a few cells hanging from chains attached to the unseen ceiling.
"Can't you get it through your thick skull? NO ONE WANTS YOU AROUND!" the black creature snarled before it took a swing at the Phantom Thieves, causing them to scatter in its wake while Oracle swiped off her goggles and boarded Necronomicon.
"Oh, shit! What the Hell is goin' on?! This thing just flipped out of nowhere!" cried Skull.
"The room has changed too! Are these… prison cells?" asked Violet.
"There's no time! Here it comes!" cried Queen.
"Look sharp, folks! We got some party crashers comin' in!" said Oracle as a horde of Shadows that the Phantom Thieves recognized as being from Alice's jail materialized. "Try to hang on for as long as you can! I'll try to find a weakness on that big thing!"
As the black creature moved in alongside the horde of Shadows, Queen's voice called out, "We should avoid wasting energy on our attacks! Let's read the enemy's movements and respond in kind!"
"Understood, Queen!" said Joker as he swung his weapon at a group of Shadows.
As some of the Phantom Thieves went off to take care of the small fry, the others focused their attacks on the large black creature. During the fighting, a well timed blast of fire from Crow and Panther struck home on the large black creature, seemingly doing some pretty decent damage to it, even as it continued to rant and rave at the Phantom Thieves.
"UGH, YOUR FACE REALLY PISSES ME OFF!" the black creature spat as it wound up its axes before unleashing a powerful swing. "WHY WON'T YOU JUST GO OFF AND DIE FOR US ALREADY?!"
"Bingo! Analysis complete!" said Oracle from Necronomicon. "Looks like the Lock Keeper's weaknesses are Fire, Wind, Bless, and Curse!"
"'Lock Keeper?'" asked Joker, confusion evident in his voice.
"That's what Necronomicon's analysis calls that thing," Oracle said while shrugging from within her Persona.
"Alright, then Me, Violet, Mona, Panther, Sophie, and Crow will all focus on offense for the Lock Keeper! Everyone else take care of the reinforcements and keep them off of us!" said Joker as he avoided a swing from the aforementioned Lock Keeper.
"AREN'T YOU SUPPOSED TO BE ALL DOWN IN THE DUMPS? WHAT'RE YOU DOING BATTING YOUR LASHES AT SOME GUY?" the Lock Keeper ranted as it swung its axes at Panther, who avoided the attack with all the sexiness and grace of a cat woman.
"What is with this thing?!" cried Panther.
"I don't know… but, whatever that Lock Keeper thing is, it's horrible!" said Oracle.
"What the Hell is up with this room, too?! Ain't it supposed to have the birdcage key in it, and not that thing?!" cried Ryuji as he dodged attacks from some Shadows.
"The key is most assuredly here," Sophie said firmly as she blasted the Lock Keeper with what seemed to be a Kouha attack. "It must be hidden somewhere within the cell."
"We're not exactly fit to search for it right now!" said Queen as she landed a flurry of nuclear-powered punches on a group of Shadows. "We need to focus on the enemy first!"
"Maybe-wait, hold that thought!" Joker said as he avoided an attack from the Lock Keeper and followed up with a few swipes from his knife and a Eiha from Arsène. "Maybe that Lock Keeper thing is the birdcage key!"
"What do you mean, Joker-Senpai?" Violet asked as she gracefully leaped up into the air and delivered a total of five slashes onto the Lock Keeper with her rapier.
"Remember what Crow said earlier today?!" Joker asked as he leaped away from an incoming attack from the Lock Keeper wildly swinging its axes. "He said that in order for us to advance, we had to find the source of the memory and confront it! It seems that we quite literally have to confront this horrible memory, and beating the Lock Keeper, which seems to be the very embodiment of that memory, is how we open the lock on the birdcage!"
"Ah, I see you still remember what I taught you about making DEDUCTIONS!" snarled Crow as he leapt into the air and performed a Showtime attack with Loki, annihilating most of the small fry Shadows in the area.
However, it appeared the fight was far from over, as the Lock Keeper suddenly vanished into thin air for a few moments before suddenly reappearing behind Violet and sending er flying through the air and crashing into the wall on the other side of the room, prompting both Sophie and Mona to heal her up… and earning the Lock Keeper all of Joker's rage.
"Violet!" cried Joker before turning a hate-filled glare and growling at the Lock Keeper as it continued ranting and raving.
"AHAHAH, THAT'S HILARIOUS! YOU HONESTLY THINK A GUY COULD ACTUALLY BE INTO SOMEONE LIKE YOU?! GET REAL!" the Lock Keeper spat as it vanished once again and reappeared behind Sophie, striking the child-like AI from behind and sending her flying into the opposite wall, unwittingly adding more fuel to the fire that was Joker's rage
"So, that fucking thing can teleport?!" spat Crow.
"Let's see it teleport from this!" snarled Joker, grinding his teeth and snarling in rage as he made a beeline towards the Lock Keeper leapt into the air with Arsène materializing beside him before launching a tremendous blast of darkness energy that shattered the Lock Keeper's defenses and left it open to an All-Out Attack, an opportunity that the Phantom Thieves and Crow did not hesitate to seize.
After the relentless assault that Joker and the rest of the Phantom Thieves had just subjected it to, the Lock Keeper appeared to be on its last legs, but even then it still had more to say. "HUH? OH, YOU'RE HERE? YOU'RE SO BLAND I DIDN'T EVEN NOTICE YOU! HA HA HA!" the Lock Keeper ranted.
Panther could hardly believe what she was hearing. "Is this stuff… really from Alice's past? Did she really go through all this?!" she exclaimed in shock.
"All of those horrible things that were said and done to her in that classroom too…" said Violet sadly.
"I believe we've now seen why Alice strove so far to wipe the records from her time at school…" said Fox.
Queen, meanwhile, couldn't help but grimace. If the mental timeline she had come up with was correct, then Kobayakawa would have been early into his tenure as Principal of Shujin, and if what this thing was spitting out was to be believed, even back then, the troubles of the students under his care seemed to be beneath his notice or concern… and the thought of such a thing made her stomach coil with anger and her fists clench as a surge of nuclear power gathered around them, which was promptly unleashed upon the Lock Keeper, almost beating the creature to death in her anger.
Even near death, the Lock Keeper still had more to say. "I HEARD YOU ACTUALLY CONFESSED YOUR FEELINGS TO HIM. GROSS! SO FUCKING GROSS!" spat the Lock Keeper. "ARE YOU JUST, LIKE, OBSESSED WITH GUYS NOW OR SOMETHING? IT'S NOT LIKE YOU'D EVER MAKE A GOOD COUPLE! IN FACT… I THINK I'LL TAKE HIM OFF YOUR HANDS FOR YOU! AH HA HA HA HA!"
"'Take him?' So, all this bullying was over some affairs of the heart…" said Fox.
"WHAT A BUNCH OF BULLIES!" snarled Panther in rage, causing a notable increase in temperature in the area around her. "They were just too mean to Alice!"
Oracle, meanwhile, clenched her fists… what these bullies had done to Alice, and their cruelty towards her… it dug up some unpleasant memories of her own…
Forcibly pulling herself back into focus on the battle, Oracle took a look at Necronomicon's display. "The enemy's nearly finished! One last push should do it! Put that bully in its place!" she said.
No sooner had the words left Oracle's mouth, Mona transformed into his bus form and promptly ran over the Lock Keeper, causing it to cry out in pain as it began to disappear.
"Hell yeah, Mona! That did it!" cheered Skull.
"Wait a minute…" Mona said as his sixth sense started tingling. "Something's up!"
Sure enough, a bright white light began to envelope the room, completely blinding the Phantom Thieves and Crow. Once the light faded, the group found themselves back in the classroom.
The Lock Keeper's body suddenly evapperated into pieces of black ash. As the ashes all seperated from one another and disappeared into nothing, there was a golden item floating in the air. It looked like a handsized padlock, one that was the exactly same style as the giant padlock that held the gigantic chain in place on the birdcage in Alice's Jail.
Suddenly, the smaller padlock fell down to the floor, and all of the thieves gathered together around it while looking down at it. Skull crouched down onto his knees.
"What do we got here?" Skull asked himself as he reached his hand out for the padlock.
As Skull placed his finger tips on top of the padlock, the padlock suddenly glowed a bright yellow light as a couple of cracks formed onto it. It wasn't long until the entire padlock blew into peaces, sending Skull falling backwards and making him panic.
"Skull!" Panther cried out in worry as she quickly rushed over to her bleach-haired friend and kneeled down beside him. "Are you okay?"
"Y-Yeah, I'm fine." Skull replied as he sat himself back up straight. "What was that just now? Why did that thing break?"
Suddenly, the entire ground started to shake. It felt as if an Earthquake was happening right now, which was causing everyone to feel uneasy. Amongst the quaking of the ground, everyone heard the loud sounds of something shattering apart in the far distance. There was also the sound of something large and made of metal hitting the ground, causing the quaking to become a bit more intense. After the intense part of the quake was over, the shaking had finally came to an end, and everything was stable again.
"What was that rumbling?" Queen asked in suspense.
"The padlock on the birdcage in the Jail has been destroyed, meaning we'll finally have full access to the inside of the birdcage without any barriers stopping us." Sophie explained to the whole group.
"For real?!" Skull asked in astonishment.
"So, my deduction was correct." Joker said with a satisfied smile on his face. "The enemy we all fought really was the key to that giant padlock."
"In other words, we've defeated the warden guarding the key." Fox simplified their current situation.
Mona suddenly hummed to himself in curiosity. "A warden in Alice's memories… A key to the cage in her Jail… So, a Shadow that happened to embody those traumatic memories of Alice is what held onto the key, and not Alice herself…"
"Is something wrong, Mona-senpai?" Violet asked the cartoonish-looking feline.
"Oh, no, it's nothing." Mona said reassuringly. "I was just thinking about how many differences there are from the Palaces and this Jail."
"Good point." Noir jumped into the conversation. "The Palaces don't have any rooms like these, or wardens guarding keys in hidden locations."
"It's as if the more we learn, the messier the situation gets." Queen commented with her eyes narrowed.
"Yeah. If it weren't for Sophie, we wouldn't have even made it here." Panther said while looking at the young-looking AI.
"Have I been helpful to the Phantom Thieves?" Sophie asked with her head tilted to the side.
"Of course you have, Sophie. You've been doing a wonderful job." Violet complimented with a bright smile on her face.
"Praise accepted." Sophie responded with a smile of her own, before once again humming some musical notes.
Though he didn't say anything, Crow couldn't help but narrow his eyes at Sophie as he crossed his arms. The fact that Sophie somehow knew about how the barrier within the birdcage needed to be destroyed, despite her claims of having no memories whatsoever… It all just felt way too convenient. Something about this wasn't adding up in the slightest.
"Alright, everyone, our job here is complete. Let's all head back to the real world and return home to Leblanc." Joker instructed his teammates with his eyes narrowed behind his mask. "...There's still one more task we need to do before we confront Alice."
Everyone but Sophie all nodded their heads in agreement to Joker's command, understanding what it was he was referring to… The time has come to prepare the calling card.
NewWorldFool: And thus concludes the chapter! If you liked what you saw here, then be sure to fave, follow, review, and make sure to join us next time as we FINALLY get to the brouhaha that's been over a year in the making: the Phantom Thieves and Crow vs Shadow Alice! See you then!