The end of the weekend. And therefore the end of the phantom thieves' break from their Metaverse activities. They had taken other steps toward their goals of course. Ren had joined the student council, bringing him into Mitsuru Kirijo's orbit and by extension Yukari Takeba's to a lesser extent. The two were clearly a romantic item of some sort, alongside another girl Ren hadn't met. Mitsuru had been exactly as Makoto had described her. A woman who had high standards and higher expectations from those around her. Between her and Makoto he was finding himself pushed to excel not just for practical reasons but because they... They had very effective tactics for encouragement. He didn't know how serious Mitsuru was about it but he knew Makoto held real intent behind every teasing action.
If he didn't have Futaba, Sumire and Ann to relieve some pressure, he probably would have bent Makoto over in the student council room already. No matter who would've been there to watch. She was merciless.
The others had also been making further in-roads toward their chosen targets. Well, targets was perhaps the wrong word. It sounded a little aggressive, and like they weren't doing this for said targets' benefit. It was better for them to know and make an informed choice than leave them completely in the dark at Xochiquetzal's mercy. They had all done incredible things. They didn't deserve to have their accomplishments rewritten by a goddess who thought she knew better.
Futaba was still spending a lot of her time at school with Rise, much to the confusion of their classmates. The loudmouth know-it-all with little to no social skills and the beloved idol who seemed to look down her nose at everyone around her, or at least so their reputations would suggest. But it was clear that was more or less the reason they got along. They were both beholden to reputations that didn't capture the smallest fraction of who they were as people. Sumire continued to work with Chie in hopes of gaining a little of her trust. Not only that, but it seemed while it was only an excuse at first, incorporating more forceful movements of martial arts into her repertoire suited her quite well. Or at least her coach had seemed to think so. Or maybe it was just empty praise given only for not desperately trying to emulate her sister.
And then of course there was Naoto who... Was struggling, comparatively. Though she remained undeterred and determined to succeed. And while her efforts to forge a meaningful relationship with this new version of her lover were fraught with difficulties, she had made more progress in the practical aspect of accessing vaults. The night she returned she had requested another visit to the Thieves' Den to strategise.
And so, the group of now six compatriots once again sat around an enlarged card table playing Strip Tycoon. With an increased number of players came another change in rules. The safe middle position was removed. In its place the roles were increased to six. Tycoon, rich, comfortable, commoner, poor and beggar. With the biggest winner and biggest loser taking and losing three pieces of clothing respectively.
It was a rule change Sumire had protested, and with her left stripped bare after only four rounds it wasn't hard to see why. Ann alongside her at least saw the fun of it, using her feminine wiles from the moment her magnificent breasts were bared to distract the other players who swung her way.
"You know," Futaba said as she stared unashamedly at Ann's tits as the blonde squashed them between her arms, "If people get naked this quickly we're gonna have to come up with a punishment game to keep things interesting." Sumire whimpered at the suggestion, which only made Futaba smile wider.
"I'm game," Ann shrugged, making her breasts jiggle on purpose, "Long as you don't make me do stuff with Akechi."
"Agreed," chorused everyone at the table, including Akechi. "What?" he asked at the insulted stares he received.
Naoto smiled smugly as she dropped her last card on top of Futaba's poor play. Ann's distractions meant the detective had yet to even lose her shirt.
"So," Akechi spoke, looking Naoto's way, "You found most of those belonging to your group."
"Yukiko, Kanji, Yu and Yosuke, yes," Naoto confirmed. A simple majority of them had been unknowns. Now only two remained. "Finding Yosuke's was a lucky break as I would have no idea where his might have been beyond the places I checked. However, both he and Yu prove which of our hypotheses on where the vaults are located was correct."
"It's based on a place that defined their old lives," Sumire voiced for her. "That makes things difficult, doesn't it? For the rest of the thieves we can simply ask. Their lives weren't that different before."
"Makoto's the school," Futaba recited in a bored tone, "Ryuji's the track field, Yusuke's the Madarame atelier, Haru's Okumura Foods HQ."
Ren glanced her way. "I'm not so sure about Ryuji's, but the rest make sense. And like Sumire said, even if it's something different, they probably know what it would be. But that still leaves us in the dark for the entirety of Kirijo's group."
Akechi scoffed. "Please. Could it not be just that simple that Kirijo herself would be located at the Kirijo Group?"
"As places to start it wouldn't be outlandish," Naoto acknowledged with her usual analytical stoicism. She looked to her side where the naked gymnast Sumire was dutifully paying attention. "Though I should correct your misconception, Sumire. If the vault's location were based on a location that defined the person's life, I would have found Chie's. Perhaps it isn't a place that defines their lives, but a place they feel the greatest connection to. Yu's being the Dojima residence suggests as much. He only lived there for a single year, visited somewhat frequently afterwards, but had a life entirely outside it." She leaned back in her chair, folding her arms across her chest. "If I may play armchair psychologist, it was a real home for him when his life had tossed him from living space to living space before and after his time there. And so while Kirijo's family company might define her life, her connection to it is not quite so assured to be strong enough to locate her vault there. Though... I see yet another long train ride in my future that I might be truly certain."
"Their headquarters is in Kyoto, right?" Ren asked. "Same way as Inaba."
"Indeed," Naoto admitted, looking down both physically and emotionally. "I should have checked while I was in that general region. I hadn't considered it at the time."
"Not criticising," Ren reassured her with a small smile, "We're going that way sometime in the future anyway so we might as well take a look while we're out there."
Ann was suddenly all enthusiasm at the idea. "Ooh, I've never been to Kyoto before! It could be fun, get all touristy, soak in the traditional culture!"
"Bleh, way too old-school," Futaba groaned, making a face.
Naoto smiled, grateful for their lack of judgement on her slip-up. "Kirijo would be the easiest to find in her group at the very least. And with her, we would get a perspective on the rest of her compatriots. As for the rest of mine, Rise would be easy to find."
"She was still with Brave Shine before?" Futaba asked, receiving a nod from the detective. "Yeah, probably there. I mean she was happy being an idol in that life, right? I remember she was still a big deal. So it would be the place she had the most connection to."
"That's true. On the other hand, my inability to find Chie's vault troubles me. Though I'm sure Yukiko would be able to shed some light on things–"
"I think I know where it is."
Naoto looked at Sumire with genuine surprise. And more than a little skepticism. "You do?"
"Well... I've spent a lot of time with her. It didn't take much to..." The gymnast trailed off as she realised how that might sound. "I mean I don't mean to imply I know her better than you, Naoto! It's just this version of her she isn't shy about her priorities but maybe this version of her is different enough that I'm wrong and–"
"Sumire, I'm not offended. What are you thinking?"
"Well..."
-(-)-
"I don't believe it," Naoto sighed.
"I... Can kind of believe it," Ren shrugged with a helpless smile.
"I totally believe it," Futaba grinned.
Before the group of five (lacking Akechi), was one of the largest arenas in Japan. The Nippon Budokan.
"Home of every national martial arts championship in the country. Built specifically to host the first judo competition for the Olympics. And host of the hybrid rules match between Muhammad Ali and Antonio Inoki, described as a forerunner to the concept of mixed martial arts," Naoto recited with disappointment in herself. "I... I feel like an idiot. Still," she turned to offer the redhead who suggested it a weak smile, "Thank you, Sumire. For alleviating one of my concerns. I knew Chie-senpai had a love for martial arts in the life that I knew her, but I had no idea it ran so deep as to mark a building she had never visited as her own."
"Shall we take a look?" Ren asked, holding up his phone.
"Why not, right?" Ann asked. "From what you guys said about them, we probably can't go in without Satonaka anyway."
Naoto gave a sideways nod of assent, prompting Ren to hit the button.
"Beginning navigation."
As the world warped around them as they travelled from the real world to the metaverse, the building itself was broadly the same in terms of silhouette and structure. However, the changes that occurred around it were striking. Above them, mildly cloudy skies turned to roiling storm clouds crashing thunderously overhead. They stood not at the entrance to the parking lot across the street but between ornate wooden gates, the only gap in a stone wall of the traditional Japanese style of the Meiji Restoration era. A time when martial struggles were at their highest in centuries. When men found great value in gaining and proving their strength.
This image was reinforced by the building itself. If one particular martial arts school had proved completely dominant over all others, that is what the grand structure appeared to be home to. The structure of the Budokan was the same. But this building, this Tenkaichi Budokan, it took the broad intention of its real world counterpart for being the premier martial arts hall and took it to the absurdist extreme expected of the Metaverse. Even to reach the front doors required the traversal of a pit with the only method to cross being a sequence of narrow bamboo pillars.
"This is kind of crazy," Panther felt the need to say.
Oracle leaned over the edge of the pit, goggles pulled down over her face. "Are those crocodiles down there?!" Her question was punctuated by a quiet, rumbling growl from within the pit. "Ho boy."
Ace joined her, leaning over the edge long enough to get a glimpse. "Alligators. The snout is too short and broad for a crocodile. Also crocodiles are less noisy."
"Why would you ever need to know that?" Oracle, the girl who studied advanced computer science at thirteen for no more reason than she found it interesting, asked.
"A mystery short story I read once," Ace answered with a shrug. "It involved the murder of someone by luring them down to an alligator nest. It was set in the Florida bayou, however. The one place in the world where you can find both crocodiles and alligators. The key piece of evidence was the damage done to the corpse. Both species have a bite force in excess of 2,800 pounds but the bites themselves fit more the shape of a crocodile's mouth."
"Tw-Twenty-eight..." Panther breathed, "You're telling me they bite so hard it'd be like getting a literal ton dropped on me?! I did not need to know that, Ace!"
"As it happens, the story was factually incorrect. If it had been a crocodile that had been the killer, there wouldn't have been much left of the corpse for study. Certainly not enough to compare bites between species. Further, alligators generally don't prey on humans at all. Too big." The detective leaned slightly over the pit again, making a show of inspecting the creatures. "That said, if you were to drop on one from a great height, I imagine they would be angry enough to take a bite."
Panther stared at the girl in disbelief. "You're messing with me. You're messing with me and I don't like it. Joker! Get her to stop! She's freaking me out!"
The small secretive smile Ace was keeping directed away from Panther suggested the blonde was absolutely correct. As far as Joker was concerned, it was nice to see the usually so serious girl have a little fun, even if it was at his girlfriend's expense. "Come on, what're you so worried about? We've handled more dangerous stuff than this. Remember the exploding ship?"
"Ryuji nearly died!"
"Okay, bad example. How about when we drove off the edge of the flying bank?"
"Morgana nearly died!"
"Well there you go!" Joker grinned. "We deal with death-defying stunts all the time! What's a little crocodile–"
"Alligator."
"–Alligator pit compared to all that?"
Panther stared at him, unimpressed, before moving to the edge of the pit. She stared down at the creatures within with trepidation, before moving as agile as she ever had across the pillars to the other side. Safely across, she looked back at Joker and turned her nose up in dismissal.
Oracle moved to his side. "That was funny," she said, though wasn't laughing at all.
"I thought so."
"If her remembering this gets in the way of my big boobs pillow time, you will rue this day."
"Rue this day," he murmured to himself as he watched Violet, then Ace hop across. "Is she getting into the spirit of things talking like that or what?" He put it out of his mind as he followed Oracle to the edge. He didn't say anything, just took her up in a princess carry and hopped over the pillars in quick and easy jumps, setting her down on the other side.
"Does this place look familiar to anyone?" Violet asked, looking up at the entrance with its heavy wooden doors, the guards standing in front in perfectly maintained clothing used in many traditional martial arts practices.
"Do you mean how this place looks like where we go to avenge the death of our master and or father and or love interest by defeating the master of this dojo and destroying their legacy?" Oracle asked. "Yeah. It rings a bell."
"She really likes martial arts movies," Violet sighed.
"Well, let's see how this one turns us away, shall we?" Ace suggested, walking up the stairs only to stop halfway to the top as the two guards stepped forward, blocking her path.
"Halt!" shouted both guards at once. "Do you seek to challenge this hall of the mightiest warriors under the heavens?!" continued the one on the left.
"Where is your master?!" Demanded the one on the right. Oracle, ever the supportive girlfriend, pushed Joker forward.
But it only caused the guards to scoff. "Self-taught amateur. No true warrior," mocked the one on the left. "Do not attempt to deceive us!"
"Bring a true martial artist!" roared the other. "We do not care to entertain vagrants with delusions of completing the Trial of the Dragon! Begone!"
The two guards stomped back to the door that groaned loudly as they opened it, and then again as they closed it behind them. Joker and Ace followed as the door closed on them. Tested the door, grunted in exertion. "I didn't hear it lock," Joker observed.
"It didn't," Ace agreed. "The door is just that heavy they don't need to."
"Guess we'd need to bring Satonaka with us like usual."
"Or we could try Queen," Panther joked. "I'd like to see her reaction to getting called a vagrant and 'not a true warrior'."
"So, should we attempt this vault next, Joker?" Ace asked. "I admit my own eagerness to see one of my friends again. Though there are other options."
The leader of the thieves folded his arms, looked at the door with a frown. "You know what this is going to be, right? It's going to be themed as a dojo challenge like from a Bruce Lee movie."
From behind him, Violet nodded in agreement. "Yes, that makes sense. Chie worships him, even calls him her master. Trial of the Dragon? That's her favourite movie." One of the ones the fighting enthusiast had shown her as an example. It didn't actually have all that much the gymnast could use but, in Chie's own words, 'it's too amazing not to show people'.
"On the one hand," Joker continued, "That would make this the most straightforward vault we'll find. On the other... If she values strength enough her vault is a dojo, it's probably full of strong shadows. Ones we won't be able to just avoid to make progress.
"That is how these things go," Oracle agreed with resignation. "If the cognition is that no one can progress without passing the trial, that's the end of it."
"Unless we change her cognition somehow," Panther suggested, "Like we did for Madarame and Oracle."
"So we make a martial arts fangirl change her cognition to thinking deceit is a valid way to win?" Joker asked with open skepticism.
"It wouldn't matter regardless," Ace reminded them. "This isn't the vault for the Chie of this world. It's the vault for the Chie I remember. We can't change the way she thinks because the mind that matters is on the inside of this place."
Joker remained in thought for a short while, considering their options. "I think Panther has the right idea."
"I do?" the blonde asked with surprise. "Wait, but Ace is right. If her mind is in there we can't–"
"Not that," he amended. "I mean bringing in Queen." He looked up at the sign above the door. "I want to get Satonaka on board. If we get her, that makes it easier for everyone else from Inaba."
Ace nodded in agreement. "At least Yukiko and Kanji for certain."
"Right. But we still have time. If we get Queen, an actual martial artist with a persona, I'll feel better about our chances of taking this place on. It would fit the rules of Satonaka's cognition. We get Queen, we get Satonaka, then we can get at least some of Ace's friends back."