A well-dressed girl was looking attentively towards the alley in Paulownia Mall, specifically the young man with fizzy hair that had just entered a minute ago and exited now. Her expression was hard to determine due to the shaggy brown hair and loomed over her eyes but judging from the way her head moved, it would seem that she had been observing Akira from the beginning. Said boy suddenly stopped and much to her surprise, he turned to her with his dead-serious look and a slowly widening smirk.
"!"
She hastily stood up and went to the counter to pay for the coffee before leaving Chagall Café. Akira's eyes followed her until she exited the Mall. At first he thought she was another relative of Ichirou Shirogane but something inside him, particularly the small but now aching scar that he had inflicted to him during their showdown. Not to mention, Satanael informed him of Loki's scent nearby and his Third Eye immediately locked into her once he was outside the Velvet Room.
'How interesting. Is she from my timeline? Is she that guy? She does have Loki's scent all over her body.'
Indeed. I would say reincarnation but we know too little about her. Be cautious and study her whenever she is in Third Eye's range.
'Got it. Though it would be weird for the guy to relive again as a girl.'
Cease your shameless fantasy for once, Trickster.
Akira caught the second-to-last train to Iwatodai. Although he was trying to find something else to do like gazing at the ocean or messing with his phone, he couldn't shake off the frustration still building up in his heart. Back then, Akira had had to restrain the rage inside him as much as possible, even when facing the man that had ruined his life, he couldn't bring himself to gun him down because of the humanity in him.
"PILLAGE HIM, SATANAEL!"
The moment when his anger, his fury, his rage was unleased, all of them combined into the Sinful Shell. He thought he wouldn't never have to constrain himself again but now, he would have to do that in order to not accidentally his new associates.
"Associates? Is that what you call them?"
"!"
Akira was pulled out of his thoughts when a strange yet familiar voice spoke inside his head. It's clearly not Satanael's.
'Who is there?'
"I ask, do you really consider them: Minato, Yukari, Mitsuru and Akihiko, as substitutes for your teammates, your true teammates?"
'I don't know who you are but…' Akira wanted to disagree but something inside him told him the otherwise. The voice was true; how could he call those people 'associates' as if they were his teammates, the people brought life back to his existence, the people reminded him of his humanity.
"There it is. You want a normal life after all the hardships, yet you still want to embrace your rebellious nature and save the world once again. Do you ever regret refusing Yaldabaoth's offer?"
'Who are you?! Are you Mahakala or his cronies?'
"I am none but yourself. I am not Arsene, I am not Satanael, nor I am not one of your many selves within the Sea of Souls. You know me well... For I am you, you are Me. Once you have sorted out your true feelings, I shall come to you."
"What is this cryptic shit?! Who the hell are you?!"
Akira screamed out loud, startling the people around him, including a certain pinkette. He awkwardly apologized, saying that he was dreaming. Luckily, the train arrived at the station just a minute later so he was saved from further embarrassment. Akira headed to the dorm before a feminine robotic voice could be heard
[Target confirmed. Begin Navigation.]
Akira looked at his phone and found that the Metaverse Navigator was back. A slight dizziness hit his head as the world shifted.
"What the…?"
Akira was in his Phantom Thief outfit with Tyrant Pistol hoisted on his waist and Paradise Lost on his left hand. He took a quick look at his surrounding; the Metaverse looked the same as before except this wasn't Mementos.
"A Palace? Or Mementos?"
Akira muttered and started walking to examine whether this was a Palace or a new look of Mementos. After few minutes, he returned to the starting location and confirmed one thing: this wasn't a Palace. The whole district gave him Mementos vibes yet in the same time, didn't. Recalling his conversation with Mitsuru, Akira concluded for now that Metaverse somehow fused with the Dark Hour. To test this, he concentrated and called out Satanael without ripping his mask.
It worked but not completely. Satanael still materialized but his figure was blurry and almost unidentifiable if his gigantic body and wings weren't there.
I can't properly exist in this realm. It feels like a large portion of my power has been taken away.
"That bad?"
Indeed. You may use the traditional way to draw my power, Trickster.
Akira reached his mask and pulled but something strange happened. It wouldn't budge.
"What the…?!"
He tried again but it still glued to his face. After a while, Akira stopped as his face hurt like hell now, even more than the first time he had summoned Arsene. He had to use a Recov-R to stop the pain. Speaking of the items, he checked his pouch and found that he had just used the last Recov-R and there weren't many Takemi's products left. He still had sufficient Beads and Somas though, and that's good sight for him.
"Remind me to restock my items later eh, Satanael."
Got it
Akira activated Third Eye and started scanning around until he spotted a spike of signal. He drew Tyrant Pistol and carefully approached the direction. Then he heard a scream.
"So much for being cautious!"
He yelled in irritation before sprinting. It was Yukari and a Berith. The girl was on the ground with an Evoker nearby. Akira immediately fired at the Shadow, causing it to flinch, and quickly grabbed his dormmate.
"Are you okay, Takeba-san?"
"This voice... Akira-kun?!"
He landed nearby a shrine and let her down. Yukari appeared to be unharmed but just to be sure, he casted Prayer on her. She looked at him with confused and awed eyes, which was understandable with how potent the spell was.
"Akira-kun, what is this costume? Are you… cosplaying?"
"It's… complicated. I will explain to you LATER!" Akira leveled his gun to shoot down a sneaking Shadow blob behind Yukari. "This place is not safe. Stay close to me."
"R-Right. Let me get the Invoker."
Akira nodded, providing suppressing fire while Yukari went to pick up the gun-shaped object. He found the Shadows strange as they tended to show their true forms and gang up on him but these ones just remained in their ugly, deformed state and slowly approached him.
"I found it!"
"Right. Let's go."
Using Third Eye, Akira located a route that conveniently led to his dorm on his left side. However, it was blocked by a dozen of cross-shaped Shadows, seemingly led by a wrestler-looking one with red aura. Quickly checking his SP pool and Satanael's skill pool, he inhaled.
"Hold on me, Takeba-san. This will get rowdy."
"Wha –"
"Riot Gun!"
A faint projection of the rebellious Archangel appeared and aimed his rifle at the group. A thunderous bullet hail rained down on the Shadows as they were shredded to nothingness. Only few smaller ones and their leader remained.
"What?! A Riot Gun should be more than enough to kill them!"
Perhaps being unable to fully summon me has something to do with the downgraded power. Use the other spell.
"Vorpal Blade!"
Multiple laser cuts covered the entire area and ripped the Shadows apart. The Gigas seemed to endure it barely so Akira delivered one last bullet at its head. Carefully approaching the smoking remains of it, he brandished his dagger just in case it was still alive.
'It has the vibes of a Mementos big Shadow but it didn't have a human form.'
This might relate to the Dark Hour. Let's consult with the Kirijo girl on this matter later.
'Agree.'
Akira looked at his phone and pressed on the MetaNav icon.
[Now returning to real world.]
The space around them distorted and they were back to Iwatodai, right in front of their dorm. Akira's Thief outfit faded into blue flames much to Yukari's surprise. He made a small wink and whispered to her ears.
"I will explain everything later. For now, act normally."
"O-Okay."
Akira gave Yukari his trademark smile and entered the building, leaving the girl dumbfounded with a slightly red face. She hit her cheeks twice to calm her mind and followed suit. Inside, the boy was chatting with Mitsuru and judging from her expression, it might be related to what had just happened. Yukari frowned at Akira's quick-to-trust mentality. Not counting her own suspicion towards the Kirijo heiress, it's weird to trust a stranger that fast.
Shaking her head, Yukari made her way to the staircase. Unknown to her, Akira seemed to notice her troubled mind.
"-Kurusu? What's wrong?"
"Ah, it's nothing. About our topic, you did mention a non-Evoker Persona User other than me, yes?"
"Indeed. He is Kei Nanjo, the current head of Nanjo Group, which my Kirijo Group was once part of. I have requested his audience to discuss about your case but so far no reply."
"No need to rush, Senpai."
At that moment, Minato emerged from the door and regarded Mitsuru with a nod and Akira with a small smile. He returned the gesture.
"Oh Arisato, the Chairman wants to meet you. You too, Kurusu. He should arrive now so stay here."
Akira and Minato wanted to ask who this Chairman was when a middle-aged, spectacled man with long brown hair and a goatee entered the dorm. Both teens seemed something off about him but couldn't make it out.
"Chairman."
"Good afternoon, Kirijo-kun." He greeted Mitsuru with a knowing smile and turned at the duo. "And you must be Kurusu-kun and Arisato-kun I have heard about."
Akira's eyes twitched at the horrible, horrible puns the Chairman, Shuji Ikutsuki, had just made. Even Satanael agreed with him.
Make it stap
Next to him, Minato tried his best not to show any expression aside sighing repeatedly. Despite it, he learned some interesting information, namely, how S.E.E.S functioned as a normal club in Gekkoukan. A supernatural counter force posed as a student club, he mused.
"So, is there something else you want to ask?"
"Um no, I'm good. Akira?"
"Me too."
Ikutsuki clapped his hands.
"Well then, we will wrap this up. As they say, 'The early bird catches the bookworm...'! Sorry for the bad pun."
'Sorry my ass'
The boys retreated to their room and the first thing Minato asked him was to pinch his cheek, hard, to get the lame jokes out of his head. Akira complied.
"Yewouch! Thanks."
"No prob. I will take the shower first to cool my head, okay?"
"'kay."
The night went on normally and Akira was having a funny feeling. It's not good, yet not bad at all. He searched through his memories and found out that during his very first day in Tokyo, he had felt the same thing. A long, exciting smirk rose on his face; this night was getting more and more interesting.
Homework first
Akira resisted the urge to groan. Why must the teachers give their students so much homework in their second day at school? Even Shujin wasn't like this. Quickly finishing his bath, Akira exited the bathroom to see Minato already doing his part.
Speaking of his roommate, Akira found a bit of himself in Minato. Cold and apathetic to everything and only doing his duty. Thinking back at his past, if the whole fiasco with Kamoshida hadn't happened, he would have become a normal, boring student under probation. But then again, he had been chosen by Yaldabaoth so the God would find a way to rob him into his 'game'.
'Yaldabaoth, or the Demiurge, the False Head Honcho of Heaven in Gnostism. Satanael is his foil and biggest rival. How irony…'
