5/8/20XX
Monday: Morning
Aoyama-Itchome

"So, who are you?" Ryuji asked the blue-haired teen who stared at Miku. "Why are you tailin' us?"

"...Beautiful." The teen answered, still staring at Miku, who was both flattered and still very confused.

"Yeah, yeah, she's pretty an' all, but that doesn't answer my question!" Ryuji said.

After saying this, the teen finally introduced himself. "I'm Yusuke Kitagawa, a second-year at Kosei High's fine-arts division. I'm a pupil of and reside at the residence of the painter Ichiryusai Madarame. I'm striving to become an artist."

"A painter?" Ryuji asked Yusuke.

"Ever since I first saw her days ago, I couldn't take my eyes off of her." Yusuke said, referring to Miku. "She stole my heart."

"W-Wait-"

"You're the woman I've been searching for all this time!" Yusuke continued, ignoring how flustered Miku was becoming. "I feel a passion from you unlike anyone else."

"Look... I'm flattered and all, but I'm afraid-"

"I beg you!" Yusuke interrupted again. "Please be my-"

"Kitagawa!" A woman's voice interjected. "What's gotten into you to run off like tha-" Once the woman reached the group, the Thieves could see she too was a teenager, around Yusuke's age in fact. "Oh. I see why you ran off now. I apologize if I'm interrupting something."

Yusuke gave the woman a nod before turning back to Miku. "Now then, as I was saying... Please be my... My..." He threw his hand up into the air dramatically. "...Model for my next art piece!"

"...Huh?"

The thieves looked at the man with confused expressions on their faces. The woman that joined him, however, was completely unfazed by this request. "I-I'm sorry, what?" Miku asked.

The woman smirked. "Kitagawa, I think you need to work on the way you word your requests in the future."

"What do you mean by that, Kazanari-Senpai?" Yusuke asked. "I gave my request in a formal manner so there wouldn't be any confusion whatsoever."

The woman sighed. "Their faces say otherwise." She pointed to the Thieves before stepping forward. "I apologize for Kitagawa's misleading words. I assure you, he merely wished to ask you to be his model for an art piece."

"Well that's a relief..." Ryuji sighed.

"Yeah... I seriously thought that he was going to full-on propose marriage, dess..." Kirika added.

"I apologize if my mannerisms may have been misleading." Yusuke said, bowing after realizing the misunderstanding once Kirika said it.

"It's okay, really." Miku replied. "I mean, if that's all you really want, I don't mind hearing out what you need me for."

"You'll cooperate with me? Thank you!" Yusuke said, before reaching into his pocket and pulling out some tickets and handing them to Miku. "Madarame-sensei's art exhibition starts next weekend. I'll be helping him on the first day, so why don't I give you the details then?"

"Works for me." Miku agreed. "I guess we'll talk more then."

"Of course." Yusuke said. "Now, I must be off. I look forward to discussing the art piece further on the 14th!"

And with that, the strange teenager left as quick as he appeared. The woman, however, stayed behind for a moment. "Again, I would like to apologize for the misunderstanding. Kitagawa can be a little... Too straightforward for his own good when he's motivated."

"It's quite alright." Miku chuckled. "But... Who are you?"

"Oh, where are my manners?" The woman said before formally introducing herself. "My name is Tsubasa Kazanari. I'm a third-year at Kosei High, which is why Kitagawa referred to me as his Senpai."

"Well, it's nice to meet you and Yusuke-san, Tsubasa-san!" Hibiki spoke up, holding out her hand for a handshake. "I'm Hibiki Tachibana, and this is my best friend, Miku Kohinata. Well, Ryuji, Kirika, and Shirabe are my friends too, but Miku has been my friend since we were kids. But that doesn't mean I'm not as good of friends wi-"

"Hibiki! Calm down!" Miku said, saving her friend from her own endless cycle of explaining things.

Tsubasa chuckled at this. "Well, your friend sure has a lot of energy. She reminds me of Kitagawa in a way..." Tsubasa said, before looking at the tickets in Miku's hands. "Ah, I see he only gave you three tickets... But there's five of you."

"Meh." Ryuji shrugged. "Art's not my thing anyways, so it's fine."

"Why does that not surprise me, dess?" Kirika taunted, receiving a glare from Ryuji as a result.

While they bickered, Tsubasa reached into her bag and handed two more tickets to Miku. "Well, in case you decide you want to tag along, I'll give your friend enough tickets so you can accompany her." She said. "Well, I must get going. See you soon, Kohinata."

"See you later, Tsubasa-san!" Miku waved back before she left. With that... Interesting situation... dealt with, the Thieves continue on their walk to school. However, that entire walk, Miku couldn't help but think about the man Yusuke mentioned. "Madarame... Why does that name sound familiar..."

11/20/20XX
Interrogation Room

"You became acquainted with his pupils by chance?" Maria asked, receiving a weak nod from Miku. "That's a little too convenient. It makes me wonder if what you've told me thus far is even the truth."

"I can assure you, it's really how I met them..." Miku replied.

"...Moving on..." Maria said as she pulled out a picture of the Thieves' next target. "Ichiryusai Madarame, a master of Japanese-style painting. It's true he was an unforgivable criminal worthy of the scorn thrown at him. A detestable adult who attained fame and fortune through unscrupulous means." Miku stared blankly at the picture of Madarame. "He managed to hide his horrible deeds for years, but you came around and discovered them all within days. Tell me, how did you do it? And remember, say nothing other than what truly happened."

5/8/20XX
Monday: After School
Shujin Academy Rooftop

With classes over for the day, the Thieves met up on the School's rooftop amidst the scattered desks and chairs. "Ugh... I'm not looking forward to exams..." Ryuji moaned.

"Well, you better study as much as you can then, dess." Kirika said. "Don't forget, any careless moves, such as flunking midterms, means you'll attract unwanted attention to yourself. And the last thing we need is to have our identities revealed off of something as stupid as that."

"Yeah, yeah. 'Don't screw up.' I got it!" Ryuji retorted before letting out a huge sigh. "Then, why don't pass time with some Phantom Thievery?"

"I'm not sure that's the best idea right now, Ryuji." Hibiki said, filling in for Kirika who was busy pinching the bridge of her nose in anger.

"We don't even have our next target yet." Shirabe added.

"And remember, we all need to agree on the target." Kirika said.

"I know! I was just throwin' the thought out there." Ryuji replied, before deciding to change the subject. "So, Miku, you nervous about these exams?" Miku said nothing as she continued to stare at the tickets Yusuke and Tsubasa handed her. "Hey, you good?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah." Miku answered. "I'm sure I'll do fine on the exams, personally."

"You're still thinking about that art exhibit, aren't you?" Shirabe asked.

"You're not actually plannin' on going to that, are you?" Ryuji asked.

"Well, I did promise them I would..." Miku said. "But I think you guys should come too."

"Pass." Ryuji quickly said. "Like I told the bluenette, Art ain't my thing."

"You're thinking about what that shadow said to us the other day, aren't you, dess?" Kirika asked.

Miku nodded. "Ever since Yusuke-san mentioned him, that's all I could think about." She said.

"Madarame... He stole everything from me, but you're letting him off the hook?! You ignore that scumbag... So why am I the one who gets persecuted?!"

"It may just be superstition, but I feel like it's worth looking into..."

Suddenly, the door to the rooftop entrance opened, revealing a girl with long light brown hair on the other end. "Excuse me, but what are you all doing up here?" She asked.

"What do you want?" Ryuji asked in a slightly annoyed tone.

"I heard voices coming from the roof, so I decided to investigate." The girl said. "As you may or may not be aware, this place is off limits after the incident that occurred last month."

"Oh, I didn't realize." Hibiki said. "Sorry, Serena-san!"

"Serena?" Miku asked.

"She's the student council president." Shirabe answered.

"Serena Cadenzavna Eve." Serena said. "You must be Miku Kohinata, I take it?"

"Yes, ma'am." Miku answered. "Like Hibiki said, I was unaware that the roof was off limits. I'm sorry."

"It's fine if you truly weren't aware." Serena said. "However, for the foreseeable future, I suggest that you all stay away from this place, especially with your history with Mr. Kamoshida."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Ryuji asked.

"I'm just trying to stop rumors from being spread." Serena said. "And I would suggest following the rules so that doesn't happen."

"...Fine. Let's go." Ryuji said as he got up from his seat and headed for the door with the others following suit.

"Thank you." Serena said as she watched the Thieves leave.

However, as they left, Kirika looked at Miku and said something only she could hear. "That girl may seem nice on the surface, but be sure to be cautious around her. She seems rather sharp." Naturally, Miku was surprised by the fact, from her perspective, Kirika said that without moving her mouth even slightly. "What? Is it that surprising that I know telepathy, dess?" Miku gave a so-so hand gesture, which made the demon girl sigh.

With their run-in with the student council president, the Thieves decided to split up for the day. However, on her way out of the school, a familiar white-haired girl walked up to Miku. "Hey. You got a minute?" Chris asked.

"Chris-san?" Miku replied. "Is everything okay?"

"Yeah, I just got a few questions for ya." Chris said. "But it'd be better if we had this talk in a more... Private area. Follow me."

Chris' Hideout

Miku followed Chris to a place in Aoyama-Itchome where they wouldn't have to worry about anyone overhearing them. "Interesting place you have here..." Miku said nervously.

"One of my Senpais showed it to me when I was a first-year student at Shujin. The place has been abandoned for God knows how long, so I've just used it as a sort of hideout, if you will." Chris said. "But enough about me, let's talk about you."

"Me?" Miku asked. "Wh-What do you mean?"

Chris took a deep breath before she gave Miku a serious look. "I'll get straight to the point. You're one of those 'Phantom Thieves', aren't you?"

Miku's eyes widened in panic. "What?! Why would you even think tha-"

"Cut the bullshit, I'm not an idiot!" Chris interrupted. "Sure, for everyone else, it would be too much of a coincidence for the people who were rumored to be expelled to have something to do with Kamoshida's confession. But from my perspective, seeing I was the one who sold you model guns days prior to his mood swing, it would be too far-fetched to think anyone else would do it, right?"

"...I guess not..." Miku sighed, knowing there was no way for her to lie about it now.

Seeing the defeated look on Miku's face, Chris sighed. "Look, I'm not gonna rat you and your gang out to the cops." She said, which surprised Miku. "Trust me, if that was my intention, I would've told the teachers or cops already."

"Then why did you want to talk to me?" Miku asked. "You're not planning to blackmail me, are you?"

"Hell no!" Chris sharply replied. "All I want is to know how in the hell you managed to use model guns, FAKE guns, to make a man, whose ego is ten times his height, cry like a baby?"

Miku blushed in embarrassment at the question. "Well... It's... Complicated." Miku said. "That, and I feel like you wouldn't believe me if I told you how."

"Try me." Chris simply replied.

Miku took a moment, knowing there was no possible way to explain Mementos or Palaces as she knew them in a manner that made sense to Chris, so she decided to do something the others would probably extremely advise against doing. "It'll be easier to show you, but you need to follow me to Shibuya." She said.

"Why Shibuya specifically?" Chris asked.

"I promise it'll make sense when we get there." Miku answered. "Also, you might want to bring a model gun if you have one."

Chris was starting to get concerned as to what Miku was implying, but went along with it. Luckily, she kept one on her person, should she need to scare off a creep or two. "This better be a damn good explanation..."

Mementos

"Beginning Navigation..."

Once they arrived in Shibuya's station, Miku activated the MetaNav, sending herself and Chris into Mementos, much to the latter's surprise. "Wh-What the hell?" Chris gasped. "What is this place? What happened to the Subway?"

"It's still in the real world." Echo replied. "Right now, we're in a place outside of reality: The Metaverse."

Chris turned to see the woman dressed in a black and purple trench coat. "Who the hell are you?!" Chris asked, pulling out her model gun in an attempt to intimidate them. "And what did you do to Miku?!"

Seeing Chris was unable to recognize her, Echo quickly attempted to calm her down. "Chris-Senpai, it's okay!" she said, taking her mask off so Chris could see her face. "It's me, Miku. This is just how I look in the Metaverse."

Chris lowered her gun, her expression changing from fear to straight-up confusion. "The Meta-whatnow?"

"It's a long story." Echo sighed. "But I only brought you here so I could answer your question from earlier. About the gun, I mean."

"You've lost me..." Chris said. "How does this freaky-ass place help explain how you used a model gun to-"

Without warning, Echo pulled out her pistol and shot it upwards, startling her senior as a bullet hole was left in the ceiling. "H... H... HOW IN THE-"

"Pleasedon'tfreakout!" Echo quickly interjected, making Chris pause before she recomposed herself.

"I-I mean... Huh... Very... Very interesting." Chris said, trying her best not to freak out again. "So... That's how you managed to get Kamoshida to confess? You took him here and threatened him with these guns?"

"What? No!" Echo replied. "In order to change his heart, we had to fight his shadow and have him confess to his crimes."

"His Shadow?" Chris asked. "As in the things we cast when there's light?"

"No, as in the version of himself that no one else can see. His true self." Echo answered, which only continued to confuse Chris further. "It's very complicated."

"Right..." Chris said. "And this is where you fought his 'Shadow'?"

"Well, not here exactly." Echo said. "We fought him in an altered version of the school where he was a king."

"Of course he'd be a king." Chris scoffed with an eye roll, before an entirely new question arose. "Wait, just how much do you know about using guns?"

"Well... next to nothing, really..." Echo stated. "I just know the basics of aiming and pulling the trigger, and that's about it."

Chris looked at Echo with a mixture of shock and horror. "And you beat a grown-ass adult with that?"

"Well, I had my teammates and my Personas with me, so I didn't need to solely rely on this." Echo replied.

"I'm going to regret asking this..." Chris mumbled to herself. "What's a 'Persona'?"

However, instead of a long-winded explanation, Echo took off her mask again. This time, however, blue flames emerged from it as Echo shouted "Bicorn!" and summoned a knight in shining armor riding atop a red horse.

"HOLY!" Chris tripped over herself from the shock of seeing Bicorn out of nowhere, before Echo recalled it back into its mask state and onto her face again. "Did that thing just come out of your mask?!"

"Yep. That was a Persona, a manifestation of myself within this reality." Echo answered. "I can summon it by tearing this mask off of my face."

"And you can just do that whenever you feel like it here?" Chris asked.

"Well yes, but not always. While I can summon my Persona to help me fight shadows whenever I need to, it gets very tiring after doing it for a while." Echo said as she pulled out a dagger along with her gun. "Which is why I also carry these so I can still defend myself when I can't use my Persona."

While she was still processing everything Echo had told her, Chris couldn't help but chuckle. "And to think, I saw you as that idiot's kind-hearted friend." Chris said. "Alright, I'll stay quiet about your whole 'Phantom Thief' business."

"You will?" Echo asked, happy to hear Chris was understanding of this situation. "Chris-Senpai, Thank-"

"On two conditions." Chris interrupted, which Echo stopped to hear out. "One, you promise me you'll tell no one about that hideout."

"Wait, what about my teammates?" Echo asked. "We really need a private place to discuss our plans since the school's not letting anyone access the roof anymore."

Chris thought about it for a moment, before turning back to Echo. "You swear that they'll be the only one you'll tell?" Echo nodded. "Fine. But if I see anyone in there that isn't associated with your gang, deal's off and I will report you to the police before you even have the chance to apologize."

"I promise you that won't happen." Echo said with a serious expression.

"Good." Chris replied. "And now for the second condition, you let me teach you how to use that gun of yours." Chris pointed to the pistol in Echo's hand.

"Okay..." Echo agreed hesitantly. "Why?"

"You said it yourself, you know jack shit about using a gun and you have to rely on it once your Persona thingy tires you out." Chris explained. "So, consider this offer as a gift from your Senpai."

"Chris..." Echo smiled at her Senpai. "Thank you. Really, this means a lot."

"Now then, let's get outta here, yeah?" Chris asked. "This place is freakin' me out."

"Oh, right." Echo said, pulling out her phone and sending both herself and Chris back to reality, right in the middle of Shibuya station.

Monday: Evening
Shibuya

Once they left the station, Chris walked with Miku back to her home. "So you promise you won't tell anyone about myself, the others, or what you saw in Mementos?" Miku asked.

"I'm pretty sure people would call me crazy if I even tried to explain that place." Chris said, answering Miku's third question. "But as long as you keep your word about keeping my hideout between yourself and your gang, then we're solid. But, do try not to make it a huge mess, yeah?"

"No worries there!" Miku chuckled, knowing just how much she too prefers to keep things as neat as possible.

With that, the girls arrive at the Tachibana residence. "Well, I should get goin' before the trains shut down for the night." Chris said.

"Oh, well, see you tomorrow, Chris-Senpai!" Miku said as she went inside the house.

"Yeah. See you tomorrow." Chris replied as she began to walk back towards the station. As she walked back, she couldn't help but smirk. "Heh. So this is how it feels to be a proper Senpai to someone, eh?"

Suddenly, Chris' phone went off, causing her to look at her phone and notice a strange app with a red and black eye on it. "Strange... I don't remember installing anything like this..." Chris thought, before shrugging and deleting the app. "Oh well, I probably downloaded it by accident somehow..."

Tachibana Residence

"I'm home!" Miku called out into the house, being met with a hug from her best friend seconds later.

"Welcome home!" Hibiki said, before she grew a smug grin on her face. "So, how was your date with Chris-chan?"

While she was flustered by the way Hibiki phrased it, Miku answered her question. "It was nice. Actually, that reminds me, I have something to show you and the others tomorrow!"

This immediately piqued the interest of both Hibiki and Kirika who had just walked towards the doorway. "Oh? What is it, dess?"

"If I tell you now, it'd ruin the surprise." Miku said while putting a finger over her mouth. "But I promise, it'll be great."

"Okay!" Hibiki said. "Well, I'm gonna go to bed early then. Kanade-san and I had a long training session today and I'm exhausted..."

"I figured you'd be at a point where it's impossible to tire you out." Miku teased.

"Normally, yeah. But-" Hibiki stopped to yawn before continuing. "But sometimes we like to push our limits and tend to go a bit overboard. Hehe."

"Alright. Well, I'll be there soon." Miku said. "Goodnight, Hibiki."

"Goodnight, Miku! Goodnight, Kirika!" Hibiki replied as she ran off to bed.

"Goodnight, dess!" Kirika called out as Hibiki left their sight. "Well, I guess we should be heading to bed too. Goodnight!" With that, Kirika too began to walk towards her room. Until, suddenly...

"Hold on a moment, Kirika." Miku said, which caused the demon girl to stop and turn to face Miku. "I was wondering if I could ask something of you?"

"Oh? What is it, dess?" Kirika asked.

"You know how you have all of those lock-pics and various other tools that you showed me in Kamoshida's Palace?" Miku asked, which Kirika nodded to. "Well, I was wondering, if at all possible, could you teach me how to make those?"

Kirika was confused by the request. "Well, yeah. Any specific reason why?"

"Well, I just figured it'd be a lot more beneficial to the team if we had another person who could create those kinds of tools should something happen to you and your powers."

This shocked Kirika. "Huh. I didn't really think about that until now." She said. "I guess that is one of the main reasons why we even formed the Phantom Thieves anyway, so sure! Think you've got time for a short lesson?"

"Sure thing!" Miku said, following Kirika to her room, where the latter unveiled a workbench. "Where did you find something like that?"

"Funny story, I actually found it in the closet." Kirika said. "However, it looked like it hadn't been touched for years. So, I used some of my powers and made it as good as new!"

"Wow... Amazing job, Kirika!" Miku said, making the demon girl blush.

"Now then, let's not waste anymore time. Do you still have those scraps of metal we found in Mementos?" Kirika asked, to which Miku replied by pulling them out of her bag. "Perfect! Now, follow my lead."

And so, the girls spent the next couple hours working on various tools: lock-pics, smoke bombs, and various other infiltration tools. Of course, seeing as it was her first time trying this, Miku had many failed attempts of broken lock-pics and smoke bombs that blew up in her face. But eventually, she was able to get the hang of it. "Whew..." Miku sighed as she wiped the sweat from her forehead. "I knew this wasn't going to be an easy task, but I'm glad I asked for your help."

Kirika "Dess"ed with glee. "And as long as you keep at it, you should be able to craft many useful tools for Palaces. And for Mementos too!" She said. "But we should probably head to bed now. You still need to show us that thing you found."

Miku gasped. "I almost forgot about that!" She said. "Thanks for reminding me."

"No worries, dess!" Kirika replied. "Well, Goodnight!"

5/9/20XX
Tuesday: After School
Chris' Hideout

Miku: Hey. Are you all busy after classes today? There's something I need to show you.

Kirika: Well, I know Hibiki and myself are available, but what about you, Shirabe?

Shirabe: I should have some time to spare before I have to meet up with Ann-san.

Ryuji: I should be good to hang for a bit too.

Ryuji: So what's up?

Miku: Just meet me at the front gate of the school and I'll lead you all to it.

Hibiki: I'm excited to see whatever it is!

After school, the Thieves met in front of the school and then followed Miku to the hideout Chris showed her yesterday. "So... What are we here to see?" Shirabe asked.

"Yeah. It just kinda looks like your average run-down building to me." Ryuji commented.

"Is the surprise inside the building?" Hibiki asked.

"Nope. The surprise IS the building!" Miku said.

"I... Don't follow." Ryuji commented.

"You know how Serena-san said the roof was off-limits to students?" Miku asked, to which the four nodded. "Well, a friend of mine showed me this place and said I could use it however I saw fit. Which means..." Miku gestured to the group to try and add two and two together.

"...It means we can use this place as a hideout, dess!" Kirika realized, which in turn made the others just as excited.

"For real?! Hell yeah!" Ryuji cheered. "Now we don't have to worry about anyone spyin' on us!"

"Amazing job, Miku!" Hibiki said, hugging her friend. "Who helped you find this spot?"

"I can't say. I promised them I would keep that information secret." Miku said. "That being said, don't tell anyone about this place, no matter what."

"Don't gotta tell me twice!" Ryuji replied. "This is like our own secret headquarters!"

"It could use a little fixing up though..." Shirabe said, looking around at the sorry state the building was in.

"That shouldn't be too hard when you've got me here, dess!" Kirika said. "I can just use a bit of my powers to fix it up."

"You can do stuff like that?" Shirabe asked. "But, wouldn't repairing the building draw attention to it?"

"I'm not gonna repair the whole building, dess." Kirika replied. "Just gonna spruce up the insides of the rooms so we can use them. I did the same to an old workbench I found at Miku and Hibiki's place."

"You fixed dad's old workbench?!" Hibiki asked, surprised by this out of nowhere mention of it.

"W-Well... Yeah."

Suddenly, Kirika was swept off of her feet and into one of the strongest hugs Hibiki has ever given in a long time. "Thank you so much, Kirika!" Hibiki said. "I owe you big time for doing that!"

"You could start by not crushing my lungs... Dess." Kirika said, trying to breathe. Hearing Kirika's struggle, Hibiki quickly let go. "Hah... Hah... Thanks... Dess..." Kirika wheezed.

"Sorry about that." Hibiki chuckled, her face red with embarrassment. "I was just so happy that someone fixed up Dad's old workbench that I don't know what came over me."

"Don't mention it..." Kirika said, before she was able to finally catch her breath again. "Anyway. Yeah, it should be a piece of cake for me to at least repair the rooms without making it look noticeable from the outside. But let's try to avoid decorating it too much, yeah?"

"Works for me." Ryuji said. "Let's see that demon magic do its thing!"

As Ryuji said that, Miku got a text. It was from Chris.

Chris: Hey, think you can meet me at the Arcade in Shibuya soon? I wanna make sure you at least have some knowledge of guns before your next heist.

Miku: Sure.

Chris: Perfect!

Chris: See ya in a bit!

"Hey, Miku! Are you coming?" Hibiki asked.

"U-Umm, I've got to go, sorry." Miku replied. "The friend that showed me this place wants to hang out for a bit."

"It's Chris-chan, isn't it?" Hibiki asked, which startled Miku. "It's fine! I'll just tell the others that you had something come up. See you later tonight!"

"Thanks!" Miku replied, quickly running off towards the station. "See you tonight!"

Shibuya Arcade

Miku didn't waste any time hurrying to the Arcade to meet up with Chris. Once she got there and caught her breath from running, she saw her Senpai standing spinning what appeared to be an arcade gun with her finger. "About time you showed up." Chris teased.

"Sorry for the wait." Miku apologized, before she realized Chris was standing in an arcade cabinet titled "Gun About", which confused the younger girl. "Wait, you're teaching me how to shoot here?"

"You're the one questioning me when you found an entire alternate universe where you can shoot model guns with actual bullets?" Chris retorted.

"...Touché."

"Regardless, even if I tried to take you to a gun range to teach you, I doubt they'd let two high schoolers go without it being suspicious." Chris said. "So I figured, if model guns work in that Meta-whatever, then maybe teaching you through an arcade shooter would be able to help you out too."

Miku thought about that theory, and became intrigued. "I guess it's worth a shot." She said, picking up the cabinet's second gun. "But wait, do you know how to use a real gun?"

"I mean, yeah. But most of my knowledge of guns is either through working with Iwai-san at untouchable, or from arcade games like this." Chris answered. "Funny story, I actually taught some kid over in Akihabara how to play this game and how he's one of its best players."

"Well, if it worked for him, then I'm sure it'll work for me." Miku said, confidently raising the gun towards the screen. "I'm ready, Senpai!"

Chris smirked at Miku's confidence. "Let the training begin!"

Shibuya

After a couple hours of playing Gun About, the girls finally stopped, leaving the arcade and went to grab some drinks at a nearby diner. "That was fun." Miku said after taking a sip of her drink.

"I'll say!" Chris added. "It was like I was seeing a whole different side of you in that game. You were wavin' that gun around like you were some gunslinging anime protagonist."

Miku blushed at the compliment. "H-Hey now. I wasn't really that flashy, was I?"

"You literally flipped the gun in the air, shot three targets, then pretended to blow nonexistent smoke off of the barrel." Chris said with a doubtful grin on her face. Miku was too embarrassed to deny Chris' statement. "But I digress. I have another question for you about that place."

Miku regained her composure as Chris said this. "Oh? What about it?"

Chris pulled out her phone, unlocked it, and slid it towards Miku, making sure a certain app was in her focus. "Does it have anything to do with this app?" She asked.

Miku paused before giving her answer. "...Yes."

"Huh..." Chris said, pulling her phone back and looking at the app icon closely. "So all I'd have to do is just start up this app and then I end up in that reality? Who the hell thought it'd be a good idea to create this crap? As a matter of fact, how did someone make this?"

"Chris..." Miku said, her tone being a lot more serious than it was a moment ago. "Please promise me you'll be extremely careful with that app."

"O-kay...?" Chris replied. "I wasn't really planning on booking a trip to hell anytime soon, so no worries there."

"I'm serious. Without a Persona, that place is extremely dangerous." Miku said. "Scratch that, even WITH a Persona, that place is extremely dangerous."

"Really? And here I thought I'd be fine fighting whatever the hell awaits me down that set of stairs in Meme-Mentos or whatever." Chris said sarcastically, which made Miku give her an unamused, deadpan expression. "Alright! I won't use the freaky eyeball app!"

"Thank you." Miku said, returning to her normal, calmer tone. "It's not that I don't think you can handle yourself in there. It's just... I don't want to be indirectly responsible for your death for showing you that place."

Chris chuckled at Miku's concern. "C'mon now. It's the Senpai's job to worry about their Kouhai, not the other way around." She said. "Besides, even if I did decide to go in there, I'd just make sure that I'd have the best quality weapons I could get my hands on at Untouchable."

Chris took a sip of her drink before a thought came to mind. "Speaking of, if you ever find yourself in need of better Gear, just hit me up whenever I'm workin'. I'd be more than happy to give you a discount."

Miku nodded. "I'll be sure to take advantage of your offer then."

Tuesday: Evening
Tachibana Residence

After some time of chatting amongst themselves, Miku and Chris eventually left the diner and returned to their homes for the night. As expected of her childhood friend, Hibiki was excited once Miku stepped through the door. "Welcome home!" She said, hugging her best friend.

"At this point, I'd be worried if you didn't greet her like that when she got home one day, dess." Kirika remarked.

"Oh trust me, that's pretty much our code for if something is wrong." Miku added.

"I don't doubt it." Kirika replied. "Now then, let's get going."

"Where are we going?" Miku asked.

"We're gonna watch that movie Master gave us." Hibiki said. "He told me C.A.F.F.E. was going to have the sequel available for rental soon, and I really wanna see it!"

"O-kay...?" Miku said, still slightly confused.

"That, and I figured it was about time we started using that DVD as a form of training." Kirika added.

"I see..." Miku said, no longer confused by the sudden movie plan. "Well, if training through movies works for Hibiki, then I'm sure it'll work for us!"

"That's the spirit!" Hibiki said, before pulling Miku towards their bedroom, where the three of them would watch the movie. "Here goes!" Saying this, Hibiki pressed a button on her TV remote and the movie started.

The Trio spent the next hour and a half watching Fist of Justice from start to finish. Of course, with the mindset of watching this movie for training, Miku made sure to pay close attention to the characters' fighting styles and techniques, even if some of them were a little, no, very far-fetched for the sake of keeping people entertained. Despite that, Miku had a feeling even those flashy techniques could prove useful in the Metaverse.

After a while, the credits roll came up on the screen, which prompted the ecstatic light-brown haired girl to turn to her friends. "Well? What did you think of the movie?" Hibiki asked.

"Hmm..." Kirika thought. "While some of those techniques may be hard to pull off, I think we should definitely keep them in mind in case an opportunity to try them comes about."

"Kirika... I think Hibiki was asking if you liked the movie." Miku said, noticing the confused look on her best friend's face. "I thought it was really good!"

"Thank you!" Hibiki replied. "But I'm glad you could also see the movie from the perspective I look at it when I use stuff like this for training."

"I've been meaning to ask about that." Miku said. "How do you train with movies?"

"Simple: I just copy the moves they do until I have it completely memorized." Hibiki explained, which baffled Miku and Kirika. "Say, if anything, we should try and practice one of those team attacks together! I'm sure it'd help us out a lot."

"Either that, or we could come up with some of our own team attacks to use on stronger shadows." Kirika suggested.

This made Hibiki's eyes light up with childlike wonder. "THAT'S AN AMAZING IDEA!" She shouted. "Think of the possibilities! You and Shirabe, myself and Ryuji- Better yet, myself and Miku could work too! There's so many combinations we can try!"

"I feel like we should limit the amount of team attack combinations we have, dess." Kirika said.

"Okay. Then, how about you and me try one, Miku?" Hibiki asked. "I mean, I already had a cool idea for a combination we could try for a while now."

"What's your idea?" Miku asked.

"Well..." Hibiki then proceeded to go into full detail of just what she had in mind. "...And then, we finish off the combination by attacking the enemy from the front and from behind simultaneously! So, what do you think?"

Miku thought for a moment. "I mean... It could work." She said. "But there's only one problem: A lot of what you suggested seems physically impossible for us to pull off normally."

"Aww, come on!" Hibiki said. "Surely we can pull it off, even if it may seem difficult!"

"I'd have to agree with Miku, Hibiki. It'd take some big miracle to pull off stunts like you suggested." Suddenly, as Kirika said this, something in Miku's pocket started to glow, which immediately caught their attention. "Huh? What's that glowing in your pocket, dess?" Miku reached into said pocket to find out.

Once Miku pulled out the mysterious glowing object, the trio were surprised as to what it was. "Is that..."

"The star Jose gave me before we left Mementos." Miku said, finishing Hibiki's thought. Not long after it started glowing though, it suddenly stopped. "What was that about?"

"Beats me, dess." Kirika answered.

"Regardless, can we at least try my idea whenever we get the opportunity to?" Hibiki asked.

Miku thought about this for a moment. "Did the star react to Hibiki's idea?" She asked herself. "Only one way to find out..." Miku turned back to her friend with a smile. "I guess it wouldn't hurt to try."

"Thank you!" Hibiki cheered, giving Miku a hug. "It's gonna be so cool! I'm excited just thinking about it!"

"But it'll have to wait until after midterms are over, Hibiki." Miku said. "School comes before anything Phantom Thief related after all."

"Oh crap! Midterms are tomorrow!" Hibiki shouted, before quickly rushing up into the top bunk of her bed. "If I don't go to bed now, I'll surely fall asleep during the exams! I don't want to be remembered as 'The girl who fell asleep during exams'! Goodnight girls!" And with that, Hibiki immediately fell to sleep.

Miku and Kirika shared a laugh at Hibiki's expense. "Well, we better head to bed as well." Kirika said. "By the way, are you still planning on going to that art exhibition on Sunday, dess?"

"I mean... I did promise Yusuke-san and Tsubasa-san I would go." Miku replied. "Of course, you guys don't have to come if you don't want to."

"And pass up on free tickets? Nonsense, dess!" Kirika said. "Besides... It'd be kinda cool to go to an art exhibition with Shirabe..." Kirika's face began to turn a shade of red when she said this. "A-Anyways... Goodnight, dess!"

"Goodnight, Kirika." Miku replied as she watched Kirika leave her and Hibiki's room. With that settled, Miku climbed into the top bunk with Hibiki and got some much needed sleep before midterms.

A/N: And with that, we end this chapter!

I know what you might be thinking: "Why did you have Chris figure out Miku was a Phantom Thief so early on in the story?"

Well, seeing as she's both a student at Shujin AND a part-timer at Untouchable, it'd stand to reason she'd be able to put two and two together relatively easily.

As for why I decided to have Miku take Chris into Mementos to explain herself, that was more or less a way for me to foreshadow events to a later arc. (If you've played P5/P5R or watched the Anime, I'm sure you can take a guess as to what I'm referring to.)

Lastly, while not completely intentional, I hid an obscure Easter Egg to my other main fic within this one. (If you can figure it out... idk, give yourself a pat on the back?)

Anyway, thank you for reading this chapter. I shall see you all next time with the start of the next major arc!