With the celebration now over, Yu was fast asleep, a smile on his face as he began to dream. He soon awakened to the sound not of chains, but of clapping. He opened his eyes and saw that he was in the Velvet Room, and the clapping was coming from none other than Igor himself, his cheshire grin displayed proudly. Even Caroline and Justine had gentle smiles on their faces. Yu got up and approached the bars of his cell.

"Welcome to the Velvet Room. It appears congratulations are in order." Igor stated cheerfully.

"Well done inmate." Justine congratulated.

"Not bad inmate, not bad. Though, it would have been better if you didn't have a break down at the start." Caroline added.

"Now now Caroline, this is supposed to be a joyous occasion." Igor reminded.

"Sorry master." Caroline apologised.

"Regardless, well done on expelling a glutton of sin from your life. You've made great strides in your rehabilitation. And yet…"

Igor snapped his fingers, and the contract Yu signed hovered in front of him

"The contract has not been fulfilled. Ruin still approaches."

"How do I stop it?" Yu asked, determination in his voice.

"The same way you stopped the glutton; with friends at your side." Justine answered.

"Don't underestimate the power of bonds, inmate. Like we said earlier, the power of your bonds will determine the power of your Personas, and vice versa." Caroline added.

"That didn't answer my question."

"You must do as you have up until now; remove distortion from the world. Continue your quest to expunge tyrants from your society, and uncover the truth." Igor explained.

"Ok, so keep infiltrating Palaces and stealing Treasures. Got it."

"Wait a moment inmate!" Caroline cried out.

"What is it?"

"Because my sister and I care about your well-being, we've come up with a list of challenges to complete." Caroline explained.

"These challenges range from acquiring Personas with certain skills, to defeating certain enemies, to obtaining unique items. With each challenge complete, a new service of the Velvet Room will be available to you." Justine continued. Yu read the list. There were ten in all, and the first one was obtain a Jack Frost with a Bufula skill. Whipping it out, the twins regarded it, then each other.

"My my my. It would appear our guest is more resourceful than we gave him credit for." Igor mused.

"Wow. I honestly didn't expect that. Well… uh… good job. But that's only the beginning! You're going to have to work hard at the others!" Caroline snapped.

"Let him have this Caroline. Though she is correct, it will only get harder from here on out, but I am most pleased that you've gotten a head start."

Yu could feel the expectations from the twins, and was determined to exceed them.

I am thou. Thou art I.

Thou hast acquired a new vow.

It shall become the wings of freedom that will lead thee to the truth.

With the birth of the StrengthArcana

Thou hast obtained the blessing that will lead thee to new power.

And with that, the bell rang. Yu walked over to his prison bed, and closed his eyes.

A good few days had passed since Children's Day, and Akechi had gone to work, trying to find suitable people for them to target. Yu was sitting quietly at his desk, doing some homework, when he suddenly felt his phone buzz. Pulling it out, he saw an unrecognizable logo on his screen. A giant black blob with shark teeth, blue eyes, a pair of cat ears, with a tail lit up, like it was a fuse. Beneath the image were two sentences.

"Greetings, Yu Narukami. I am Alibaba."

"Who are you, and how did you get my number?" Was his hasty reply.

"I already told you, I am Alibaba. As to getting your number… well, let's just say I have my ways."

"So you're a hacker."

"Guilty as charged, but we have more important matters to discuss. Like your work with the Phantom Team."

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Yes you do. Removing Kobayakawa helped many, but it is not enough."

"What do you want?"

"It's not a matter of what I want, but what other people want."

Yu wanted to know who this person was. He closed his eyes and sent Izanagi out. He knew that the god would be unable to trace the hack, or force the hacker out of his phone, but he had a sneaking suspicion of who this "Alibaba" was in the real world, and Izanagi could confirm that . Unfortunately, the lunch bell rang, forcing Yu to recall his Persona. He took one last look at his phone, and saw the final text from Alibaba.

"Consider this a present. From me, to you."

"What is this?" He typed, only to get an 'Error; address does not exist' message. He wasn't exactly keen on clicking on random links from strangers, but then he heard Izanagi talk.

Look at what the link contains. 'Phansite'.

We can't trust a random link. Especially from a complete stranger.

Except that complete stranger knew that we're members of the Phantom Team. They could have blackmailed us outright.

Or maybe this link is the blackmail.

Only one way to find out.

Yu pressed the link, and to his surprise it took him to a website dedicated to the Phantom Team. Specifically, it held up requests of people who wanted the Team to steal a certain heart. Most of them were stupid; a friend owing someone money, an ex who cheated on someone, and so forth. Most of them didn't even provide a name, though Yu figured that it was to be expected, most people probably didn't even know the Team needed one. He let out a heavy sigh. At the very least, they might be able to determine their next target from this. He got out his lunch and started eating, then texted the others.

Yu: Guys, have any of you heard of something called the 'Phansite'?

Shiho: No, I haven't. What is it?

Akechi: It's apparently a sight where people can post the names of people whose hearts they want changed.

Shiho: Really? Then it should be good practice for us while we're deciding who our next target is? Maybe we can check to see if one of those names has a Palace?

Akechi: An excellent suggestion.

Yu: There's more.

Shiho: Really?

Yu: The person who created this goes by the name 'Alibaba'. And he knows I'm a member of the Team.

Akechi: Has he tried to blackmail you?

Yu: Not yet.

Akechi: We have to look into this.

Yu: I'm already looking into it. I have a pretty good idea as to who it is already. I just need to wait until Alibaba contacts me again. If my hunch is wrong, then we can start investigating. I don't want another Kobayakawa so soon.

Akechi: Agreed. And it's even worse since we don't know Alibaba's real name, so we can't steal his heart if he has a Palace.

Shiho: Guys, maybe you're overreacting. Maybe Alibaba is a fan and just wants to help?

Yu: Then why didn't he use his real name to contact us?

Shiho: …. Good point.

Akechi: In any event, we should look into this 'Phansite' and what it can do for us. Let us meet up at the Shibuya station entrance.

Yu sat around with Shiho at the subway, waiting for Akechi to arrive with Morgana. He noticed Shiho pacing herself back and forth, and decided to speak up.

"Nervous?"

"Oh? U-um… no."

"Shiho, your acting is as bad as Ann's."

"Oh come on, no one is as bad as Ann."

"Well, you're coming pretty close."

Shiho let out a heavy sigh and rolled her eyes.

"You know we're friends now, right? If there's something bothering you, then I want to help." Yu stated.

"I know, it's just, I don't want to burden you with my problems."

Yu placed a hand on Shiho's shoulder and smiled tenderly.

"You're not a burden. Not to me." He said, earning a small smile from Shiho in response.

"It's my parents." She finally said, her smile vanishing.

"Are they still mistreating you?"

"Yes… and no. See, they want me to still do the best I can, but they're more passive aggressive about it."

"How do you mean?"

"Well… they told me that if I wanted to continue hanging out with you, Ann and the others, I had to score top marks on the midterm."

"Oh, that doesn't sound too bad."

"They said 'if you care about hanging out with that filthy criminal, we'll accept nothing less than the best scores.'"

"Ouch. That doesn't sound passive-aggressive."

"Yea. I like to believe that they've changed, but…"

"You'd think they'd be more gentle on you after the…um…"

"Suicide attempt?"

"I was going to say incident."

"Yea. Hey, just so you know, in the future, I don't want you to dumb things down or feel like you have to say certain things because of what happened to me. I want you to see me as Shiho Suzui, not That-Girl-Who-Almost-Killed-Herself."

"Alright. And, if you want, I can help you study for midterms."

"That sounds awesome! I'd love to spend more time with you!" As soon as she registered what she said, Shiho's eyes widened, and a blush started to form on her cheeks.

"F-for study purposes, of course! B-But, that's not to say that I won't mind spending time with you outside of school. As friends, of course!" She stuttered, making Yu chuckle.

"You're adorable."

This only caused her cheeks to turn an even deeper shade of red. Luckily for her, Akechi and Morgana had arrived, and Morgana was shaking her head.

"You know, since this is going to become a regular thing, it would be best if we didn't have to wait for me to catch up." Morgana said.

"Well, if you want, you can wait outside of school for us." Yu suggested.

"I have a much better idea! I want to go to your school with you!" Morgana replied.

"What? Morgana, I don't think we can do that. There's a ton of paperwork involved, and you simply don't meet the requirements. We've talked about this." Akechi replied, shaking his head.

"True, BUT! As luck would have it, we have someone Ushimaru owes a favor to for saving Shiho." Morgana replied, staring hard at Yu.

"Oh that's right. But do you think that Ushimaru will consider it reasonable?" Shiho asked

"Only one way to find out. But let's focus on what we came here to do." Yu answered.

"Ah yes, this Phansite. Let's take a look." Morgana said as the others huddled around Yu, looking through the requests.

"Bah, most of these are lame. We need something serious, something that we actually should do." Morgana complained.

"Oh here's one." Yu said, pointing at one request.

"Dear Phantom Team. I work as a part time model, and I've had this rivalry with a girl named Mika Aina, a healthy rivalry that pushed both of us to get better. But I've recently been hearing rumors that she's been messing with company resources, misdirecting other models so that she can take their place and start rising to the top. I don't have any proof, but if she really is doing this, could you give her a change of heart? -Lovers 06" Shiho read out loud.

"Well, better than nothing. Let's give it a try." Yu said, activating the Meta-Nav to put in her name.

But the second he touched the app, the world began to swirl around around them, their eyesight becoming distorted, and throbbing headaches hammered at their skulls. They were all forced to close their eyes, and when they opened them, the world had changed. First, all of the people were gone, and the four immediately looked around to see if they accidentally dragged someone in, soon releasing a collective sigh of relief was released upon finding that they were the only ones here. Then they noticed something else: The sky was blood red, there were black and red cracks emerging from the Shibuya Railway entrance that criss-crossed the whole city like lightning, and they were in their Metaverse outfit.

"What happened? We didn't input any keywords into the Nav. How come we're in the Metaverse?" Yu asked, turning to Morgana.

"Well, as I said before, Palaces are extremely distorted pockets of the Metaverse, exclusive to those whose twisted desires are cranked up to 11. But, those are the special cases. For everyone else, they still have distorted desires, but it's not nearly enough to warrant a Palace. As such, there's a special Palace, one that belongs to everyone in Tokyo. That Palace is called… Mementos. And that's its entrance." The guide explained, pointing to the entrance of the subway.

"So, if we enter the name of someone who doesn't have a Palace into the app…" Yu started, putting in Mika Aina.

"Candidate found in Mementos." Came the Meta-Nav's response. It then pulled up a map, but instead of a map in the traditional sense, it showed the subway entrance, and underneath it, an "!" in bright red in the otherwise blank space that took up the rest of the screen.

"Hey Morgana, how else is Mementos different from other Palaces?"

"Well, for starters, it is much much larger, and as such, its divided into blocks. Each block shifts around constantly, as people always view the same thing differently. Also, each block is swarming with Shadows, but being spotted won't raise Memento's security levels, since the only way to do that is to do something that makes the entire population of the city to see you as a threat."

"How deep does it go?"

"Deep . I don't know how much, but according to master Igor, if we were to dedicate all of our time to clearing Mementos and reaching the bottom, it would take about three weeks."

"Wow. But since this Palace is so massive, then that means we can battle Shadows for hours and hours on end. We'd be juiced up for Palaces in no time!" Shiho pointed out.

"Actually, that's the final thing. Mementos is also home to a very powerful Shadow, one whose power exceeds both a Champion of Ruin, and a Wild Card."

Morgana's voice suddenly dropped, and she turned around to look at the subway entrance, almost as if she was afraid speaking its name would summon it.

"It's called… the Reaper. And believe me, that name has been earned many times over. If we're on a floor and hear chains, we need to leave, immediately." she whispered.

"Got it. Is there anything else?" Yu asked.

"No. Let's get going, but try not to linger on one floor too long."

And with that, the four of them went down the non-moving escalators. The subway had far more sinister and malicious feel as they entered. For starters, there was blood red light everywhere, there were black cracks on all the surfaces, and they were twisted and crooked, like they were gnarled roots. The team made their way to the subway itself, and saw several people waiting for trains. When one pulled up, they shuffled on board, emotionless grunts the only thing that indicated that they were even alive to begin with. Once the train was full, it would speed off to parts unknown, leaving only whispers of pained groans in its wake.

"This place is really creepy." Shiho pointed out.

"Alright, so do we just keep walking until we reach the target?" Akechi asked.

"What?! Hell no. In fact, the whole reason why I constructed the Mona-mobile in the first place was so that we could traverse Mementos efficiently." Morgana answered, pulling out her whistle and blowing hard. The Mona-mobile roared as it emerged, fully repaired, from a cloud of smoke and dust. As they climbed in, Shiho took a moment to admire the bus.

"Wow, this is really nice Morgana! How'd you repair this?"

"Actually, I made multiple Mona-mobiles, and this is a completely separate bus. Master Igor provided me with the materials to make anything I wanted, from a tank to a mobile weapons platform the size of a city. In the end, I decided to make a bus, and make it the best bus possible, and named it the Mona-mobile! But keeping it intact was the hard part, since Elizabeth loved to take it for a spin without any consideration for the love and care that went into making it. Eventually, it got so bad that I had to build spares just for whenever that madwoman wrecked it." Morgana grumbled as she started up the engine.

"Elizabeth? Who's that?" Yu asked.

"One of master Igor's assistants. Like Caroline and Justine!"

"I see. Well, let's get to finding this 'Mika' shall we?" Yu suggested.

"Yes, let's. Morgana, if you would." Akechi replied.

"And away we gooooooo!" Morgana cheered as they began their descent into Tokyo's Palace.