Emerald

by WhiteFangofWhoa

Six years after the disbandment of the Phantom Thieves, the sea of human consciousness grows wild, a tide of chaos threatening to swallow up the recovering world... But at the burgeoning academy of Koashimizu, a band of eight defiant souls seek redemption, and a home they can call their own. Rated for mature situations and violence.

53. Memories of the City (Part 3)

This story is a work of fiction. Any similarities to events or persons living or dead in your world is purely coincidental.

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Memories From So Long I Can't Remember

Old Feelings Of Emerald, Orange, Black And Amber

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7/23 Thursday

Evening

"You WHAT?!" Head swimming from the noise assaulting them, Jiachi resumed his seat, shrugging helplessly. "Sorry, I can't even hear you over this noise. Isn't there any place quieter?!"

"Nah. Just the restrooms", Reiha smirked, nearly shouting so that he could hear him over the song. "Maybe wait for it to stop?"

That took more than a few minutes. Club Laveau, as he had found, was designed for acoustics first and foremost, arranging the solid black walls and ceiling to contain the thunderous sound coming off the speakers set strategically throughout so that it would swarm the crowd in the large 'pit' at the center. He had experienced for himself how that kind of powerful volume blocked out the senses until it became difficult to think, until the rhythmic beat became your entire consciousness.

The pit had plenty of room for over fifty people to 'rave'. To sway to the beat and rock out as much as they wanted. Four steps up with the tables however, the music was merely loud, not all-consuming, the lights placed seemingly haphazardly and no consistent color playing across the mob as they danced, becoming one being.

"That's the goal", Reiha had explained to him early on about the mosh pit. "People come in here to help forget themselves and their problems for a while. In a way much less dangerous than alcohol, 'aight? I know it sounds kinda strange, but it's actually liberatin' in a lot of ways."

"I'm a heavy metal kinda guy", he'd replied to her lack of surprise. "I know all about the thrill of losing yourself into an awesome song rockin' your socks off 'til you can't remember your name, never mind what you were sad about."

So he was content to sit and wait for the current song to end and for everyone to wind down, many of them heading to tables to grab their drinks or resume talks with their friends, nursing his water until the 'regular' lights came up and he could massage his ears. His head swam, but he knew it would pass. "Okay, better. What did you say?"

"I said that Vitienne and I visited Cecille Yumika earlier to ask about the Masked Circle."

He took several seconds to process what that meant. "Oh. Ohhh. Cool."

Reiha shot up out of her seat, astonished by his reaction. "'Cool'? 'Cool'?! Really? That's all you've got to say? You're not upset that we went behind our leader's back, jumped the gun on something she wanted us to do together?"

"Heh. Whatevs. I'm not Sorano-chan", he protested, taking another swig of his drink. "She might have a fit about that if you tell her, but I'm good with it. Our captain's pretty chill too, most of the time. 'Easier to beg forgiveness than ask permission' and all that, y'know? Should be fine. How'd it go?"

"Not much we didn't already know", the tall girl admitted, downing her own water. While at age 19 she was technically allowed to have alcoholic drinks, her ID said differently, and she wanted to avoid drawing any attention to them. "She joined up when she wanted to have revenge on someone, got her Persona awakened, then ditched when she realized just how batshit crazy King Leo and Lady Scorpio are."

"Hey, good for her", he remarked. "I know just how tough it is to leave a group that makes ya feel like you belong... even if that group is bad news. Isn't that why no one ever leaves the Dragon syndicate?"

"No one ever leaves the Dragon syndicate alive", Reiha corrected him sharply. "I'm sure there's a lot of younger Gokuden who are in over their heads and want to leave 'cause they can't stomach it any more, but the syndicate always punishes traitors. They're lucky just to lose a hand or a tongue and not their lives."

"Dude", his eyes widened before retreating. "Sorry, didn't mean to remind you 'bout all that stuff."

"It's my fault for bringing it up", she agreed somberly. "But I get you. Maybe this Prince Taurus guy might be convinced to leave too?"

"Don't hold your breath", Julian warned, his eyes darkening. "I fought that fucker myself, in your Land. We all did. And he's no part-timer; he's way into it. Kept on goin' on about how he wanted to create a world where we could be who we really are, where the strong thrive. Hard to believe he's the older brother to poor Samesaji-chan."

"He did give me that impression too, when I saw him", she allowed, growing pensive. "Still, maybe he's onto somethin'. I mean, just imagine what it would be like if we could all use our Personas' power in this world too?"

Whatever he was imagining made his youthful face scrunch up in clear distaste for the idea. "That... might be fun for us, but it'd be major bad for everyone else. Soon as anyone saw me using Wild Bill, they'd call the cops. And sure, with my power I could prolly take 'em down... but I don't want to."

Looking over at her, he snorted. "And I already know what you'd use your Persona to do. It's obvious. You'd use it to go after the Yakuza, wouldn't you?"

"Uh-huh. Guilty as charged", she nodded, knowing that fervent desire was impossible for her to hide. "With Adrestia's dark power, I could tear 'em down, and bring justice to Japan. They'd never threaten anyone again, not even the heavenly kings."

"And then the cops would be after you for murder, so what does that tell you?"

"Then they would be protecting the lives of murderers", she pointed out angrily, frustrated that he didn't agree. "That's the problem, y'see. They spend more time trading favors with criminals than trying to actually bring 'em in."

Not wanting to provoke further argument, he stared into his glass instead. "Prolly just as well that won't happen, then. This 'Salvation' crap that they're planning... it's our job to stop that from happening. That's the captain's orders. And it's three against six, now."

"Captain's orders", Reiha agreed distantly. No matter what else could be said about her views on justice and criminals and everything else connected to it, her loyalty and friendship to Aiko remained a solid absolute. She would never betray her, her captain. "Not like I should have much of a say anyway, being the new meat and all."

"Oh, I think she'll listen if you have something to say to her", he promised, watching the lights begin to dim again and the crowd re-gathering in the pit for the next song. "She's good that way, really. Even when Sorano-chan gets all whiny about stuff and says she doesn't want to fight Shadows. Hey... wanna dance?"

Reiha snickered, leaning back. "The pit isn't really meant for couples. When you're moving to the beat, you lose track of your partner pretty fast in the mob."

"Maybe we should go visit another club then", he offered, casually accepting a free refill of his water. "One that's designed for couples."

The idea only amused her further, staring back at him close enough that he could see every ounce of her black shadow and eyeliner. "...Huh. Hahaha! Tsuruga's right. You do start fast."

"It's a habit of mine", he confessed, not quite sure if he'd just blown any chance he had. "I don't like to wait around, especially for stuff like this."

"Impatient", she observed, winking. "I can approve of that. I don't have much patience for all the tiptoeing around the bush either. I'm sure you thought it was a good match too. You're the 'bad boy' next to Vitienne, and yes, compared to Tsuruga and Sorano I'm most definitely the 'bad girl'."

"Going to clubs doesn't make you b-", he raised a hand, but then the music was starting up again, and he recognized that any attempt to talk further would be an exercise in frustration. They waited for the song to finish before resuming.

"Going to clubs doesn't make you a 'bad girl'. Neither does dressing yourself up like a goth punk or always wearing those gloves."

"Noted", she joked back. "Do you wanna see my tattoos then? Only kidding- they're in places where it might be, ahem, little bit risque for you to peek at in public like that."

"I'm okay with being 'risque'", he murmured.

"There's risque and then there's risque."

"You're not French", Julian lurched forward, nearly falling over. Looking up at her, his eyes seemed to be glazed over somehow. "French aren't that tall. God... dammmm... why you gotta be so tall? Taller than me."

Alarmed by the sudden slurring in his words, Reiha stared at him. Stared at his empty glass. "Um. You do know that's just water, right? It's not alcoholic."

"I knowww", he pounded the table, his face flushing. "You think I'm stupid?! I'm not stupid! I know. I know."

Pulling back from him, she sighed. "Like I said, I don't like the whole 'oooh, does he like me, does he not like me' dance that most people my age are so into when we're in school. I prefer real dances. So I'll be up front about it now; I'm flattered, but no thanks."

He took the news as well as can be expected before diving back into his drink. "'Nother one down then", he remarked bitterly.

Amazed at how guilty the look on his face made her feel, she spread her arms across the cushion. "That was another thing for your list, wasn't it Rosea? You wanted to find someone here. Someone other than Tsuruga."

"That was the plan, yeah", he acknowledged miserably. "S'like all the hot girls in Koashimizu are 'lergic to me or somethin'."

"More likely they heard about what happened in the dorm with Kujou", Reiha reminded him. "That's my fault, I know. I'm sorry. That's just how I always felt, deep down. I really always wanted to punish Kujou for being so cruel to other people. I wanted to scare the living hell out of her. It sounds like my Shadow did exactly that."

"You wanted to scare your friend?", he raised a brow, apparently recovered from whatever spell had taken him before.

"Kujou was my friend", Reiha emphasized. "Then she started on this whole JCAP nonsense and became someone else. Someone who I couldn't stand being around for very long. She just assumed that I would always go along with whatever she wanted... because for a few years, that was true. I didn't want to lose her, but... I had to take a stand, in the end."

"So that's how it was", Julian remarked, regarding her with a new appreciation of his own. "I... I'm sorry. I never knew. That's why I always stayed away from you before. I just assumed that you were like all the other assholes in JCAP wantin' to bust my ass for being half-American."

"Yet I never did", she chuckled sadly. "Most people at school felt that way towards me. If it wasn't me being on the SDC, it was my gloves or how I work out at the gym."

"See?", he grinned back lopsidedly. "Now you're out of the SDC, out from Kujou's thumb, and I really don't mind a girl with some muscle on her. Or the gloves. We should-"

"I told you, no", she cut in apologetically before trying to cheer him up. "I'm not into that. What I am into though, is causing trouble. Playing matchmaker."

"Playing matchmaker?"

"Uh-huh", she smirked. "You saw my Land, didn't you? I'd given up on finding happiness for myself. I'd embraced pain. 'Hail horrors, hail infernal world', aight? What I was interested in doing was helping other people find happiness... by helping 'em find the one they've been searching for."

"Past tense, of course", he chipped in, sounding strangely woozy.

"Past tense", she agreed eagerly. Whatever his flaws, Julian was right about one thing- he lacked many of the problems that the 'good boy' Noel had. Noel would have balked at the simple act of going to a 'rave' style nightclub this late at night, particularly one that was named and themed after a famous witch. "But the point is, I have practice in that department. I also know Tokyo better than you do. Sure, Tsuruga knows it best of us all, but I get why you can't ask her for help with this problem. Soooo... yeah. I'll help ya out, if you want."

While the expression on his face made it clear that this was hardly what he'd come expecting, the renewed shine in his eyes seemed hopeful... or maybe it was whatever mysterious force was making him act tipsy. "Hey, thanks a bunch... How ya... How'd y'know anyway?"

"I told ya", she teased. "Experience. I saw it in your eyes. For guys at your age, a girlfriend is a status symbol. That's prolly why you were so eager to get with Tsuruga earlier, right? Whatever other dumb reasons that's the case for, if your goal is finding someone, it can be good for you to start lookin' now. Only for the right reasons, though."

The music started back up again, leaving Reiha to watch at Jiachi's expression portrayed a raging battle between his overweening pride and all his other desires and knowledge. When the music stopped the battle was over too, and he had a far more vulnerable, forlorn look about him, if not quite approaching tears.

"I spent all of... alla' my years at school", he said, suddenly sounding like he'd entered a drunken melacholy, "pretending like I was a hot stud, that I was the ace of the soccer team, that I had tons of friends, yeah, that I was the cool guy that everyone admired. But... I don't wanna pretend any more. I dont'... I d-don't, don't... I don't wanna be alone any more."

When Reiha replied, it was with more respect than he had ever heard from her before. "It takes a brave man to be able to admit all that stuff. But you're not alone, Rosea-kun. Not anymore. You have Tsuruga, and Sorano. You have Vititenne, and Pelagio. You have me. And... I'd be happy to help you find someone else before our time here is up, if that's your goal."

Staring back, he felt his first genuine, unforced smile of the night creeping onto his face. "Thank... Thanks. Forget about wha... wha' tha' fuckin' bitch Kujou says. You're a good friend. Good friend."

"And you're a good friend for me to have", she smiled back happily. "Someone who isn't afraid of the dark."

From the main booth, the manager began to announce the last dance of the night.

---

7/26 Saturday

Morning

"How do you do it?!"

Behind the waft of the morning's curry, Akira blinked in surprise. "Um. Sorry, that's a trade secret. I learned it from Sojiro and I trust you of course, but I doubt that he'd appreciate me sharing the recipe with too many people anyway."

"Not that", while Aiko appreciated the joke, it wasn't enough to cure her earlier distress. "Your team. How did you get them to behave and not ruin everything?"

He seemed amused at the very idea she was proposing. "I assume by your tone that something happened last night?"

Gritting her teeth, she tapped at her phone hard enough to risk cracking the screen. "You could say that. I got a call from Hayato-san last night, late. Way, waaaay late. Apparently, Julian got drunk and they had to take a taxi back to the Sakamotos' place together."

"Drunk?", he pondered, his face growing more concerned. "He's 16 though, isn't he? He shouldn't be allowed to have alcohol."

"Yesssss", she hissed in mock patience. "That's the weird thing. They went to a club called Laveau, and Hayato swears to me that they had absolutely nothing but glasses of water when they were there... but somehow he started acting all screwy anyway."

To punctuate the statement, she touched her phone, playing back a bit of the recording she'd received. Over the sound of Reiha belatedly apologizing for the incident and explaining what had happened, one bit of the background noise was clearly audible: 'WOOOO! Clear th' launchway, maaaan! We takin' thi' baby to da MOOOOON!'

The sound of someone collapsing made Akira wince, adjusting his glasses. "...Well. I honestly don't think I ever had to deal with that kind of thing happening. Sure, there were a few times when I really wanted to muzzle Ryuji, but the others were pretty good about it. Prolly because they'd realized for themselves just how dangerous it could be if our identities were revealed to the police."

"Lucky you", she remarked sourly. "Meanwhile, I just found out yesterday that Vitienne and Hayato also went behind my back to perform a mission I was going to save until we got back from vacation, so we could do it together. That was after Dada Yangyu invited Noel to join us without taking it up with anyone else."

"Dada Yangyu?"

"Sorry." The simple realization helped to soothe her anger somewhat, blushing. "I meant Sorano-chan. And I know that part turned out okay, but I still don't want this becoming a habit or anything." Watching as Morgana was greedily eyeing his own dish of dried fish, she sagged back into her seat. "I swear, sometimes it feels to me like 'captain' is just a label."

Akira took longer to measure out his response to her, taking a moment to gave her a pitying glance. If anyone else understood her troubles with being the leader of a group of Persona-users, it would be him.

"We got lucky a few times, it's true", he started thoughtfully. "If Nijima-san hadn't been willing to give us a chance to prove our justice and instead just turned us in to the principal, no questions asked, then it could've been all over for us right there. If Haru hadn't been infiltrating her father's Palace at the same time as Morgana was going it solo, then he would've died there, leaving us with no clue of how to get into his Palace and probably so angry with him we might've just killed him ourselves. Hard to say. But..."

"But?"

Removing his apron to hang it up, he smirked, adjusting his glasses. "But... I believe in letting people make mistakes, then helping them to fix them. Trusting in them to learn from it. Sure, the others all called me the leader, but that was more because I was the best fighter of us all. Because of my 'Wild Card'. Because of that, I usually called the shots whenever we were infiltrating Palaces... but when it came down to decisions we made in this reality, we always were democratic about it. We would only target someone for a change of heart if the decision was unanimous."

"And you trusted them not to get into any more trouble outside of Palaces, or go behind your back to investigate someone who could be dangerous", Aiko pointed out furiously. "You get to have responsible teammates. Lucky you."

"Uh-huh. Lucky me", he agreed sheepishly. "But looking back, I think that using a tighter rein might have just made the others upset with me. I'm just not that kind of guy, the type to demand that people get my approval before they do anything. Masayoshi Shido probably ran his allies that way. Always looking over their shoulders to make sure that no leaks got out... but those guys weren't his friends. A man like that has no friends. I'd hate doing things that way, being a control freak. I always trusted my friends to be careful about what they said and did. Even Ryuji."

"And regretted it", Morgana pointed out gleefully. "More than once."

"Yes. More than once", Akira gave a long-suffering sigh. "It's not like I had any better idea what I was doing than they did, you know? Besides, if anyone should've been leader, it was Nijima-san. For while, I even toyed with the idea of letting her take over as leader, but I always knew that she would turn me down."

"Why?", Aiko wondered out loud. "Why would Nijima-san turn you down? Shouldn't the smartest one in the group be the decision-maker?"

Akira smiled at her naivete, sitting down and letting Morgana climb up on his lap to listen. "Not exactly. In our group, Futaba-chan was actually the smartest. Her hacker skills were beyond anything we could understand. But... with all the respect she's due, I honestly don't think she would make for a good team leader. What about you, Tsuruga-chan? You mentioned before that Sorano-chan actually gets better grades in school than you do, right?"

Eyes narrowing, she took the seat opposite him. "Yes. She does get better grades than me... but... I think that I understand what you're getting at. I love her, but... She wouldn't be a good leader either, I know. She's just too conservative, too worried about the dangers that we face every time we go into that world. If she led us, we would probably end up running out of time to save the Land ruler, terrified to face what lay ahead of us. And, beyond that... she's too nice. Sure, she fights the Shadows, but only when there's no other choice left, and the rest of us have already started fighting back."

"A leader has to be responsible", Morgana stated slowly, as if quoting from some book of parables, "but also bold. They have to be willing to take carefully calculated risks to be able to achieve the group's goals. What about the others then?"

"I thought about it", Aiko confessed wearily. "Believe me, there are some times when I wish I could just give the job away to someone else, so that they could deal with the responsibility instead of me. But... Vitienne-kun would not do well there either. Because of his oath, he has no experience at all in combat, only as our team medic. He wouldn't know how to coordinate us at all when we had to fight."

"What about your most recent recruit?", Akira asked. "That punk girl with the gloves. She seemed pretty level-headed back when she visited us."

"Hayato-senpai is strong", Aiko allowed patiently. "Stronger than me. Stronger than any of us, at least physically. But... she's still completely new at this. There's tons of things we've gotten used to in our time there that she hasn't seen yet. Also, if what I saw of her Shadow when we fought it earlier is any sign, she has a tendency to lose track of what damage she's taking. Or even worse, she'll deny that she's hurt at all until its too late for us to act. Rosea-kun is the same way, really. They're both good fighters, definitely, but they're both way too reckless to lead a group. As last night just demonstrated."

"Which leaves us with the bird-brain", Morgana grumbled. "It's easy to tell why he couldn't lead them."

"Actually", she countered him, still a bit annoyed at the cat's recent shenanigans with Yusuke, "Pelagio's been the most reliable one on my team. In fact, I named him my 'first mate', so that if something happens that makes me unable to lead, then he takes over."

"Shouldn't that be 'second mate'?", Morgana wondered. "Because he's your second in command?"

"No", Aiko chuckled. "That's how it works on ships. The captain gives the orders, and the one beneath him- or her- is called the first mate. Beneath them is the second mate, and so on." Watching Morgana's tail tick back and forth in curiosity, she shrugged. "I'm not interested in assigning any more ranks though. There's no way that wouldn't be seen as me making a list of my friends in the order I liked them. No way."

"I never did that either", Akira pointed out, understanding. "I'm pretty sure everyone on my team understood that Nijima-san was the best second-in-command without me telling them."

"It's good to have a second to take over if something happens to you", Aiko agreed. "That happened twice in Hayato's Land. Once when I got captured, and then again when the Shadow ruler brainwashed me."

"That's always annoying to deal with", Akira empathized. "There was that cult leader who... well, never mind. We beat his Shadow in the end, that's all that really matters." Gently setting Morgana down, he briefly raised a hand to touch the spot where Akechi had 'shot' him. "I made it clear that during our big master plan for Nijima's Palace, that Makoto was in charge of keeping everyone else safe. Fortunately, there was no need for it that time. It seems that Shido was satisfied enough to have me dead, instead of striking at the others in the meantime."

"But... I don't know if he would make a good default leader", she admitted quietly. "Actually, scratch that; I know that he wouldn't. He's getting better about it, but he still totally places my safety way over anyone else's, both here and in the other world. I don't want that. If someone on my team really had to go down for the count... then I'd prefer that it were me."

"'A good captain always goes down with the ship'?", Akira quoted knowingly. "Platitudes aside, why do you say that, Tsuruga-chan? You said it yourself- you're the best fighter, the Wild Card. Your loss would leave the rest of them vulnerable, and you've got the most experience coordinating your team by far."

"It's obvious, isn't it?", Morgana called him out from the floor when she was unable to answer. "She doesn't want to see her friends get hurt. She's rather get knocked out, or die herself, than see that happen."

"Ah", the former thief paused, and Aiko imagined he must have had a lot of restraint not to retaliate in any way. Clearly, he'd had a lot of practice. "Sorry. Guess I've been out of it too long. But I definitely remember how it felt when one of the others got hurt... especially if it's something I could've prevented."

"The Togo girl taught you better than that", Morgana scolded him. "I thought she showed you in all those sessions you had with her that sometimes, you have to sacrifice a piece in order to win the game."

"Maybe", he allowed before growing stern, his glasses flashing dangerously in a way Aiko hadn't seen before. "But I think you would forgive me for not being able to think of Ryuji or Ann or you as 'disposable pawns'. Or any of the others, for that matter. I told you; that's Shido's way of thinking. Not mine."

Not knowing who 'Togo' was, the details were lost on Aiko, but she certainly understood the gist of it. "I don't do that either. Like you said, the best fighter belongs on the front lines. Shadows are less likely to be able to hurt my friends when they have to worry about my sword cutting them down."

"You see?", Akira smiled back. "You're still the best choice for the captain of your team, Tsuruga. They all think so, too. Sure, you make some mistakes sometimes. You're young. You'll learn. Show me a leader- young or old- who doesn't make any mistakes, and I'll show you a dirty liar."

"Thanks, Kurusu-kun", she smiled back at him, feeling better now. "I just wish they'd listen to me a bit better after what happened last night."

"Well, I would hope Rosea's now learned his lesson about that", he mused. "But that's your call. As is how upset you want to be towards Vitienne and Hayato. Who knows? I don't know them as well as you do. Maybe your team really are the type that needs a firmer rein than mine did. Speaking of which..."

Trailing off, he turned around to grab Morgana without warning, ignoring his noise of complaint. "I heard about what you got up to yesterday too. Don't do that again, got it?"

"Ugh... give me a break!", Morgana protested. "They got to meet Yusuke because of me, right?"

"True", he snorted, "but you could've just told him about them straight up, instead of making Kitagawa believe that Pelagio wasn't like you."

"Urrgh! He is NOT like me! He's a total bird-brained moron! Let me GO!"

Despite his angry tone, he didn't try to scratch Akira. Possibly, Aiko considered, because he'd grabbed him in a way that prevented the use of his hind claws. Though he let Morgana down, the serious expression on his face didn't let up. "Pelagio might not be the brightest, but he's clearly very loyal to the one who took him in. You've always gone on about how you're not a cat, yet you can't let go of some kind of weird prejudice between cats and birds now?"

"Mona-chan", Aiko tried more gently, bending down to eye level with the bratty feline. "I get that Pela-tori can be annoying sometimes. He's as stiff as a board, and he's stuffy, and conceited, and like I said before, way too overprotective of me. He's got no sense of humor, he poops on people who annoy him and until recently, he didn't seem to care about humans that weren't me at all. But... he's still on our team. Without his help, we would all be dead. He would do anything for us... for me. Honestly? I feel bad for him sometimes, how much he's missing out on."

"Not like you can harsh on someone for being conceited", Akira quipped to his old friend. "But, yeah. Neither one of us are Okumura the Elder. We don't want mindless robots for allies. We accept all of our friends... flaws and all. If we didn't do that, then I'd have tossed you out years ago."

Morgana went uncharacteristically silent, studying the earnest faces of both the team leaders for a stretch before realizing that he was outmatched. "Oh... oh, all right. Fine. I'm sorry for playing that trick on Yusuke. I should have just told him the truth about what bird-brai- what Pelagio was from the start. There, I said it. Happy now?!"

"And you said his name without insulting him." Rising, Akira clapped his hands together. "Progress. I don't suppose you'll be wanting to go with them today?"

"Better not", Aiko warned. "Today's our beach day together. I don't want Mona-chan to burn his paws on the sand."

But the cat scoffed, reverting to his usual self. "Oh, please! I know how to handle the heat. And going to the beach sounds pretty fun about now. This guy and his friends are so busy with work and college now that they never have a chance to go together even when it's nice and hot. I'll go with you."

"Great!", she nodded halfheartedly. "Now I just have to convince Pelagio that you're a good person too, and not a spy. Wish me luck."

---

7/26 Sunday

Afternoon

The sun cooperated amicably with their plans for the day, and so did the clouds, being patchwork but nowhere near enough to block out the sky. The beach laid out before them was crowded naturally, but not so much so that finding a spot was impossible.

Whatever impediments were there had been brought with them, Aiko decided, absently reaching up to snap a photo of the beach. "It's just not the rush I expected", she told Julian once they had a chance to discuss it. "Prolly because we already live near a major beach. Just not one quite like this."

"Not one like this", he agreed, enthusiastic despite their problems. "But c'mon, we had to have at least one beach day, yeah? At least this one doesn't have seaweed all over the place."

"No", she shrugged. In sharp contrast to the more natural formations throughout Shikoku island, this long stretch of shining sand designated as a public beach had undergone terraforming to make it more comfortable for its millions of patrons. "And this one doesn't have a gate to another world hidden in it either."

"That we know of", Jiachi pointed out. "Me, I could stand to go without findin' out. Man, somehow we always end up drifting back to that, don't we?"

"We do", she had to admit. "It's my fault. Can't seem to get all that stuff out of my mind even when we're supposed to be relaxing." Seizing the chance, she focused, piercing his brown eyes anew with an aggravated stare, the kind that had made Shadows quiver before her in the past. "But it doesn't seem like you have that problem, do you now?"

Shame didn't become him well, she decided. It didn't seem to fit his face, making it look droopy and depleted, like his normally inexhaustible energy supply had been cut, and he seemed unable to meet her gaze directly, his eyes falling to the sand. "...I'm sorry. I got carried away."

Her anger didn't suit her either, she decided. Not while they were on vacation. She dropped it quickly, changing back to a more confused expression. "What's really weird is that the club swears there was no alcohol in that water. So...like... how?"

"Hayato had a theory", he shrugged. "She thinks I got drunk on... um... 'atmosphere'. Like... the effects of the club, yeah?"

"I think that I need to see this club for myself", she snorted. "But until then, no more drunk, okay? Not even fake-drunk."

"Yes, mom", he rolled his eyes before realizing in horror what he'd just said. "Uh, I mean, you know."

"Yeah, I know", she murmured. Talking with Akira about the burdens of leadership had inevitably conjured that mental image as well. It wasn't one she wanted to embrace any more than Jiachi did. All the more reason why I want them to be more responsible in the future. So I don't have to be that.

"Speaking of", she stared out across the endless stretch of sand, "where is Hayato-senpai? I thought she was going to be here with us."

Jiachi frowned. "She stayed behind at the Sakamotos'. She didn't wanna come. Said the beach wasn't her thing."

"Maybe at night it would be", Aiko sighed, pressing her hands to her face. "God, I swear she's allergic to fun."

"This kind of fun", he suggested defensively. "Hayato-senpai just has her own idea of fun is all. I never even had a chance to tell you about the vampire cafe."

"Really?", another voice called to him, making him look around for a moment before peering down to see Morgana trotting up before them. "Vampire cafe? Whoa, seriously? I've lived in Tokyo for years. Why have I never heard about this?!"

"Because I don't think they let cats in", he grinned lopsidedly. "Not even vampire cats. And I'm pretty sure Kurusu wouldn't be interested in it either. They open only at night, natch, specialize in red wines and they have all the staff dress the part."

"Not really my thing either", Aiko waved the idea away. It did make a sort of sense, though, seeing what they had of Reiha's Shadow in the other world. Their friend didn't just have affinity for witches, it seemed, but for vampires as well. Creatures of the night... "If she drags you off to a werewolf cafe, don't go. Say you're sick or something. Or maybe pretend to be drunk again. That should work."

"Meh. It was kinda fun, in a weird kinda way", he scoffed. "I want to experience as much of this city as I can in the time we got left. Hard to believe we've already been here for a whole week, yeah?"

"Same", she mused. It had certainly felt like the days were flashing by more quickly, but looking closer it was easy to see why. There had been significant transportation delay between destinations, even on the trains, which meant a limited number of destinations could be visited in a single day. "Still, it sounds like you've gotten your bearings now. You don't need a chaperone any more."

"Nope!", he agreed happily before genuflecting. "Still... I wouldn't mind having someone else along either."

"Pelagio will be thrilled", she joked, noticing how Morgana was even more amused at his wincing. "Although, perhaps you... I get the feeling that Kurusu's been too busy to go anywhere with you lately?"

"He's been busy", Morgana acknowledged quietly. "Last year of teacher's college is tough. Tougher than high school, and now he has to play catch-up because of his injury. But it's not like he stops me from going wherever I want during the day. He'd only get worried if I didn't come back in time for dinner."

"Which isn't a problem", Jiachi guessed teasingly. "But you can't ride the train alone, right?"

"No", the cat explained glumly. "I tried doing that once actually, but some adults made a fuss about it. I didn't want to get Akira in trouble. He used to take me everywhere in his pack, but the campus is boring and people started noticing that too."

"I'll take ya", Jiachi offered. "I'll just empty out one of my bags tonight. No offense to Pelagio, but he's not much of a conversationalist, yeah?"

"That's...", Morgana's blue eyes flashed for a moment and he lowered his head to hide a brief instance of unguarded joy. "Huh. Maybe I was wrong about you. You're not a clueless meathead like Ryuji after all."

"Give him time", Aiko snorted, fiddling with her phone. In a way, the two of them bonding made good sense; they both were a bit too focused on being 'stylish' over substance. "He'll earn that back soon enough. Or weren't you listening about him getting fake-drunk last night? Should I play the recording on my phone again?"

"Please don't!", Julian raised a hand in alarm. "Geez, I've learned my lesson already. I'm seventeen, damn it. I'm entitled to make a few mistakes now and then."

"Believe me", Morgana said, nuzzling up to him, "you're nowhere near as bad as some your age I've seen. I'm not just talking about Ryuji either! When Akira was still going to Shujin, I saw so many of the other students being so stupid sometimes, it made me want to get out of his bag and shout at them. I suppose that most humans that age have to learn things for themselves... the trick is in surviving the experience without getting trapped."

"Kaneshiro", Aiko guessed. "He totally exploited Shujin students with the promise of easy money, right?"

"That, and much more. I saw guys bullying, blackmailing each other, fighting for no real reason at all. The guys I saw at college were a bit better, but I'd still occasionally see them taking drugs or something stupid like that. I'm glad that Akira made a few new friends there, now that he doesn't have probation hanging over him. They're not as close as the Phantom Thieves, but I don't think that would be possible."

"You said it, kitty cat", Julian smiled, vaulting up from his beach chair. "Me, I wanna meet new peeps even if they're not part of our crew. In fact, that's... uh..."

"Go ahead", Aiko smirked back, waving him away. "Talk to some people. Make new friends. I'll take another dip in the surf while we wait for Vititenne-kun to get back."

The sun had begun to turn a distinct shade of orange by the time they had all returned to their spot. Noel impressed them all with his very first landscape sketch taken from a stone balcony overlooking them, depicting not only the beach but hundreds of people covering it. Pelagio came back boasting of yet another brawl with an aggressive seagull, thankfully sporting little in the way of injury.

Morgana seemed content to stay by Jiachi's side for the day, but his tone said differently. "Okay, I take it back. This guy really is a meathead. Or least, his approach to women is."

"Oh sure", he grumbled from his seat. "Like you'd do any better, kitty cat. I tried my best, okay?" Realizing what he'd just said, he suddenly gave Aiko a frightened look that confused her for a moment. "Um, I mean..."

But she was the farthest thing from upset. Instead, she reached over to hold his hand in the sand. "It's fine. It's good that you're trying to meet with other people, Rosea-kun. I told you when we talked earlier, I'm not clingy. If I wasn't so busy with other stuff, I'd prolly go ahead and do the exact same thing you're doing. Except with guys instead of girls, of course."

"I...", he panted, momentarily at a loss. "Uh. Thanks."

"You two together?", Morgana remarked beneath them, spoiling the moment. "Really?!"

"Yeah. Really", Aiko stared back at the cat's blue eyes defiantly, as if daring him to mock their bond any further. Whatever agreement they'd come to now, neither of them could deny there had been something.

"Yeah. We were awesome", Jiachi commented just as strongly, copying her stance before lowering his almond eyes as the old memories returned. "But y'know, I kinda got stuck in Faraway Lands when my gramps died, and things got... awkward."

Morgana looked so hungry for further elaboration that Aiko couldn't help but oblige him. "Specifically, I found out the hard way that he'd been lying to me about stuff just to make himself look good to me. Also, his Shadow was completely obsessed with 'having' me."

"Not a good sign", Morgana agreed more softly. Naturally, he'd seen those kinds of obsessions a few times in humans, including more than one person becoming an obsessed stalker.

"I've never heard that before", Noel said, as surprised as any of them. "So that's what happened when you disappeared and returned?"

"Uh-huh", Julian whispered, holding his head like it might burst. "Made me realize what an asshole I was bein'. Not just to Tsuruga-chan, but to my folks too. And... to the memory of gramps."

"So", Morgana considered more thoughtfully, "so, it was kind of like a change of heart then? You realized on your own that what you were doing was wrong?"

"Sorta", he mused. "But they didn't need to send me a calling card. All they had to do was show me the truth. Made me realize what my Land, my 'Freedom City' was really all about. When I saw my Shadow up close and personal, saw what he was like..." He could say no more.

"That's how we know that you're a good person, Rosea-kun", Noel offered, kneeling and placing his free hand to the skin of the other boy's shoulder. It felt surprisingly warm. "You saw your sins for what they were, and you sought to repent them."

"Sure", he joked. "All it took was a trip to another freakin' dimension for me to see the asshole I was bein'. Yay me. Woo-hoo."

"Hayato was the same way", Aiko reminded him gently. "As was Sorano-chan. You never saw her Land. You never saw her hidden dark thoughts. Believe it or not, they were actually pretty disturbing for me." Pausing, she took another look out at the shore and the infinite sea beyond, idly wondering what her Dada Yangyu was doing right now. "Maybe we should fix that some time, if it'll help you understand."

"Interesting", Morgana remarked. "I wonder if that would have worked for any of our targets? It would've been much too dangerous for us to try that with most of them of course, but it worked great when Futaba did it."

"Futaba?", Noel asked curiously. He glanced over at Pelagio, who remained silently vigilant as ever when the others were talking. "The last of the Phantom Thieves we haven't met, yes? She had a Land as well?"

"She had a Palace", their feline friend corrected him. "That one was sort of a... special case. Futaba wasn't like all the others we'd seen. She wasn't evil, or distorted in a way that made her hurt other people. Just herself. When she went into her own Palace, her Shadow actually helped her to realize the truth, and Awaken to her Persona."

"So it was kind of like that", Aiko reasoned. "Of course, we still had to beat up the Shadow each time... but the 'ruler' always had to be the one to finish things up by talking to them."

"Good thing", Morgana's tail curled. "If you'd actually gone ahead and killed the Shadow, it might've caused some problems. In the end, they still have to be banished by the ruler's own resolutions and willpower. Of course, if we'd forced a nasty guy like Kamoshida into his own Palace, he'd probably just end up joining with his own Shadow to take us out."

"Here we are again", Aiko lamented, moving to pack up her beach chair, "talking about work on vacation."

"The kitty cat started it", Jiachi pointed out indignantly. "But, uh... thanks. Thanks for that. And don't worry- even if there's a 'fire coyote cafe' somewhere in this city, I'm definitely not goin'."

"Fire coyote...?", Noel stammered.

"His Shadow", Aiko explained.

"Ah."

"Heh, fire coyote. I almost wish I'd seen that", Morgana teased. "But don't worry about it too much. I can already tell; you're nothing like Kamoshida was. Him, we had to force to have a change of heart, practically at gunpoint. But as soon as you saw what your Shadow was like, you knew what you had to do. That's the difference between you and him. That, and about twenty years of age."

"He sure did", Aiko commented glibly. "Shikoku boy shot that fire coyote right through the heart."

"Thanks", Julian repeated, this time looking back at Morgana. "I still want to try and find someone here though. Someone who doesn't automatically brush me off. I don't suppose you've got any pointers?"

Far from offended, Morgana seemed to swell up with pride. "Certainly! You forget, I've got years of experience watching humans interact. I'm a bona fide expert on getting with the ladies!"

"Hoo boy", Aiko felt her eyes rolling beyond her control.

Despite every setback, it felt like the day had been well spent.

---

7/26 Sunday

Evening

From the polished golden deck of the ark ship Xibalba, Benihime Kujou breathed in the air of another world, closing her eyes to the orange-stained skies and reflective water below. The brisk wind tugged at her hair lightly, but hardly enough to mess with the changes she'd managed, pulling her usual black curls into a wild nest of spikes closer to something belonging on Reiha Hayato's head, as if in mourning for her lost friend. The application of pale blue dye and her new outfit- a green turtleneck covered by a black buttons jacket and pants adorned with the 'Aquarius' Zodiac sign- completed it.

"So this is what it's like", she murmured to the winds. "This is the world that lies behind all of the masks, behind the curtain. The backstage."

"That's one way to put it", Ryuken Samesaji- Prince Taurus- commented as he moved up beside her to watch the dark waves, clad in heavy-looking steel armor as he folded his arms. "I keep changing sides on whether it's beautiful or terrifying. Maybe it's both?"

Queen Aquarius smiled back cannily. Periods of training spent together hadn't changed her opinion of Taurus at all. "Oh, it's definitely possible. Rusalka is beautiful, but to people who aren't like you and me, I'm sure she would be quite terrifying. Your Mithras looks nice too."

"All Personas are beautiful in some ways", he decided after a moment. "Well... maybe not Dagon. That one's just damn ugly."

Aquarius winced. She recognized better than anyone how all the recent changes she'd experienced could be viewed by uninformed outsiders as a loss of sanity, yet even now King Leo gave her the creeps. His Persona was no better, a nightmare mashup of reptilian eyes, claws and tentacles that hurt her brain to look at for more than a fleeting moment. And that is King Leo's true self... no wonder.

Which left Lady Scorpio and Cleopatra out of the four of them, who even Benihime had to admit managed to look even more elegant than herself, despite all the long bandages wrapped around her legs and arms. The Persona's face was sheer legendary beauty, and clearly her power was much the same.

"The bilge tanks below take in more dreamwine", Taurus was explaining. "It takes less effort than having to distill it ourselves from seawater. Scorpio also wants me to try and capture some more Shadow scum while we're here, but if you happen to accidentally destroy them all during your training...", voice trailing off, he made a mock-innocent shrug. "Oops."

Benihime smirked out at the vast ocean before them. Taurus knew what she wanted, and he was all too happy to provide it. That was why she liked him. While he had been a harsh trainer during their sparring sessions, he also recognized that the best way for her to increase her Persona's power wasn't that, but to simply battle as many Shadows as possible. While the club did possess a ready supply of them in black boxes, Lady Scorpio had been quick to point out that those weren't for her, and would only deplete their limited supply of them.

In this warped world however, the Shadows seemed unending. She'd already caught glimpses of the enormous seaborne beasts that Taurus called 'Leviathan Shadows', but every bit of dry land they saw teemed with smaller ones, always disguised to match the 'theme' of the place, or simply formless black blobs if there was no theme to match.

"Here", Taurus pointed. "That one."

Following his gesture, she saw a Land coming up on the right that looked like nothing so much as a giant bit of broccoli from afar. Drawing closer let her make out the individual trees, along with the strange lights emerging from the gaps between them, emanating up into the sky like wisps before dissipating against the orange etchings dominating the sky.

"A forest?", she mused as they began to dock.

"A Land", Taurus claimed dismissively. "Someone who found their way in here, trying to flee from our reality. He- or she, I didn't bother to check- couldn't stand it, and didn't have the power or the will to change things. So they ended up in here."

"In a forest?", she repeated, half incredulous.

"An enchanted forest", he seconded, indicating the lights and the strange tiny winged shapes flitting in and out of it. "Maybe they're a hippie or something, if this forest is their ideal world. Doesn't matter. We won't be trying to reach the ruler. There's no point in trying to talk to them now. Come on."

He vaulted over the rail without even waiting for their ship's gangplank to lower. Benihime was more patient, taking the intended route to avoid any risk of falling into the dangerous-looking water below. Taurus, she had noticed, had a bit more of a reckless streak in him. It reminded her a bit of Reiha, back when they had been friends.

Before she had even gotten off the gangplank, she saw that he had already started a fight. He'd run straight up to the first Shadow he'd seen, which clad itself as a bright green forest sprite with multicolored flowers for hair, and brought his massive cloven-shape hammer down on it, prompting an angry squeal and the usual violent burst of transformation she had now become accustomed to from Shadows.

When the violent surge of darkness faded, the new form took flight on wings composed of pink feathers tipped in green, the rest of the body clad in layers of white and red barding suggesting some native American influence, a plumed headdress flush behind the head clad in an ebony-beaked face mask, white stencils outlining the shapes it covered. Beneath the wings, a black claw stretched out and conjured lightning to strike back at the Shadow's attacker. "You dare violate the sanctity of eternal wood? Zionga!"

Three coruscating bolts fell from above and for a moment Benihime's heart leaped... but Ryuken's armor soaked it up without much sign of injury. He was even smiling. "I dare that", he boasted, "and much more."

Thanks to prior experience, she felt Mithras' power gathering before she saw it materialize as a horned wraith alongside him, a chilling blue aura exuding from it before closing around the hammer, acting as a conductor before he raised it high. "Bufudyne."

As the Shadow stared helplessly, the air around it chilled, thickening into a prison of ice that grew upwards before spiking out at the top, forming a tree shape before shattering and leaving nothing behind but black ash.

"A warrior and a poet", she praised from behind him. "Didn't know that."

"Not me", he corrected with a shrug. "That's just the shape Bufudyne always makes. Could've used my best ice skill, but that would probably wipe out the nearby Shadows too, leaving none for you."

"Yet you're okay with just charging in like that", Aquarius snickered. "Good thing these Shadows are weak."

"Heh", he rubbed his nose. "Sorry, couldn't help myself. Been a while since I had a real fight... or at least a chance to destroy some Shadow scum. The rest are yours, though. I'll only help out if you need."

"How generous", she remarked flatly. Stepping further into the strange forest, she saw how the trees there curled and knotted, splitting and reforming in ways that the real thing could never manage. From around a haphazard cluster of brambles came a smaller tree, one that walked on four large mobile roots. Moving to intercept it, she drew up short. "Hey, wait... why don't I get a weapon?"

Prince Taurus laughed, pounding the base of his hammer into the dirt. "Because we haven't made one for you yet. It's not like we own a foundry or anything. I had this stuff special-made for me. Scorpio and Leo don't use weapons, and this stuff I can only use when Mithras boosts my strength. That's how I managed to get it made actually, because everyone who was involved thought it was just trophies, too heavy for any human to ever actually lift. I mean, if you want to bring a weapon along or wear armor go right ahead... but you'd have to buy it. Maybe pay Xtriqation a visit."

"Thanks", she scoffed at the idea. There were two weapon shops in Tosashimizu city; the Bird of Hermes in the west of town and Xtriqation in the east end, neither of which would be willing to sell anything but models to someone her age. Still, Xtriqation is known for doing things under the table, so maybe if I got enough cash together...

But that was a goal far off the future, to be pursued in the long term. The goal for now was simply to destroy every Shadow she ran into here. Taking a step back, she focused her mind, easily remembering the time when her Persona had awakened, when hate had unlocked her mind and left it changed forever. "O ravenous Rusalka", she intoned eagerly, "together, we shall dominate!"

As promised, the chant brought her Persona to her beck and call, a endlessly flowing mop of damp black hair concealing a hybrid of humanoid and serpentine form, luscious red lips concealing a lamprey eel's hideous mouth and the hair concealing the Persona's four slender pale arms as well as her eyes and, Queen Aquarius noted with brief amusement, the top half's exposed breasts.

Godiva hair, she remembered. That was what it was called. The hair never parted that way, but it did slide away to let the four arms reach down and grab four fins along the serpentine portion, pulling them loose to reveal one wushi-style katana along with three shorter daggers.

Screw weapons, she noted in satisfaction. I am the weapon. Rusalka is all the weapon I need. "Kill."

Without another word four blades descended, bifurcating the tree and leaving behind four stalks of wood that abruptly shifted to black, red bubbles boiling up before they burst back to life as a beige-robed giant. It wasn't as big as the enormous crowned Shadow which had caused her Awakening, but far larger than any human could be. Large green veins decorated its pale skin, and the eyelids opened to reveal wide yellow pupils, the slits within them trembling in outrage. To add to her rising disgust, the creature's nose was also vertical and slitted like some nocturnal predator... and even as it prepared to fight back, she saw it stick one long finger inside a nostril as though it was a nervous habit.

She took all this in before the next strike fell, cutting through robes but hardly scratching the flesh beneath. "Intruders!", the creature's uncommonly large mouth roared, causing it to thankfully remove the finger from its nostril. "I'll grind you into mulch for the sake of our master! Sleep now! Dormina!"

"Shit", Benihime grunted, already feeling her eyelids grow heavy. Taurus had warned her about this, the way that some Shadows could inflict all sorts of strange conditions on their prey in addition to simply attacking them physically or using elemental skills. But that merely bought her a few extra seconds to react, to try and shake off the growing drowsiness before it put her to sleep completely. In the time that took, the ugly Shadow was already leaping forward to punch her.

Rusalka's hair would have normally intercepted such a thing... if her mind hadn't been too occupied with fatigue to focus on it. Instead, the blow sent her flying back, the Persona's power only preventing the hit from shattering bones as it would have otherwise done. The pain helped clear her mind, and she stood again, the same hate as before burning away the cobwebs. Another standing against me. Opposing me. Off with his head.

Rusalka's blades fell upon the enemy, but once again there didn't seem to be much lasting damage even when all four cut into it. "You might want to change it up, Aquarius", Ryuken suggested from behind her. "This one's got to be resistant to physical stuff. Try something elemental instead."

"Fine", she growled, raising her hand to concentrate. "Aques!"

The rapid torrent of water that had defeated her previous Shadow opponent blasted into the Shadow with what felt like more force than it had before, yet the robed giant shrugged this off as well, instead backing off to focus a different skill, its entire form briefly flashing a bright shade of yellow nearly matching its closed eyes.

Benihime fell back in confusion, not quite sure of what she was seeing. "That energy. It... it's pumping itself up, right?"

"Big time", Ryuken confirmed. "Specifically, boosting its defense up with the Rakukaja skill. So it'll be able to survive even more punishment than before. Are you sure that you don't want some help with this one?"

"No", she felt the words come out before she'd even had time to contemplate the answer. "No, I got it." You'd like that, wouldn't you? To rescue some damsel in distress. I'm not damsel. I am a queen, and I will make this bastard bow to my will.

Still, making that happen was proving to be more difficult than she'd expected. The Shadow had started on yet another skill, a blast of fire that narrowly missed burning into her chest. "Idiot!", she called back at the revolting creature. "You want to light this whole place on fire?! Don't expect me to put them out if you do!"

But the Shadow showed no worries about such a thing happening, merely dropping its guard to charge with the same strength as before. This time, Rusalka's hair flooded out to tangle the beast's legs and immobilize it, while Benihime herself stepped back, taking a moment to immerse herself in the feelings that had gotten her into this in the first place.

I was the queen of Koashimizu, thrown down by an ugly slutbag. No one there compares to my beauty, a rarity like crystal. Like diamonds. Such hideous people should feel privileged to serve one so rare... and this Shadow is just as ugly. It doesn't belong in this forest with the others. At least the winged Shadow from before was kind of pretty, but this thing is just a deformed mistake. Deformed mistakes should not stand against one who is beauty and grace personified!

The raindrop hitting squarely on her head surprised her as much as anyone, but it seemed completely harmless.

To her, anyway. The drops reacted with the Shadow's flesh in a way that reminded her of a common sight in her chemistry class, the way students were all too eager to watch the reactions between small amounts of hydrochloric acid and almost anything else. Breaking off its attack, the Shadow howled, desperately trying to find cover beneath the trees and finding none. As the melting rain intensified, Benihime realized in shock that wasn't the reason for the Shadow's pain either.

Doesn't matter, she decided easily. "Carve him up! Vorpal Blades!"

Equally unaffected by the rain, Rusalka was happy to comply, a storm of its swords and daggers assaulting the helpless Shadow from every side. It continued to moan until a lucky blade strike penetrated into its heart, leaving it quiet and still.

Turning away from her victory, Aquarius winked at Ryuken even after seeing that his armor was sizzling a bit as well from the widespread rain. "Still think that I need help now?"

"Noooo", he grinned back, ignoring the trails of smoke coming off his metal. "Still think that the Shadows here are weak?"

Insulted, she turned back to watch the giant dissipate into black ash as they usually did. "Ugh. Whatever. That one was just lucky he had resistance to all my usual skills."

"What was that anyway?", Ryuken asked, walking up to her. "I never saw you use that when we practiced before."

Not wanting to let him see the uncertainty on her own face, Benihime folded her arms and faced away. "Hah. Shows what you know. It's my new skill, my...uh...my... 'Rain of Grief'."

"Really?" His tone made it clear he wasn't buying into her projected confidence. "'Rain of Grief'? That name's what you're going with?"

"What?" She shrugged. "It fits. The more I looked at that Shadow, the more I felt disgusted by him. I mean, what kind of Shadow picks his nose? Then all that disgust went out of me, like it was being channeled into Rusalka... and then it made that rain."

The rain in question was finally starting to fade now, she noticed with some relief. It certainly was too far-ranging a skill to use back in their world. Ryuken, however, looked more impressed than he had since first laying eyes on her. "Your skill causes despair", he marveled. "And in a pretty damn big area too. I bet you hit a few more Shadows with it that we didn't even see yet. I've seen King Leo do something like that, but only to single targets. I didn't think you'd be able to pick it up that so quickly."

"Please", she scoffed, ignoring the sudden hangover using the skill had obviously brought on. "You're surprised. I told you, I'm exceptional. I always have been. I am a Queen. Pretty soon, I'll be stronger than any of you, and I'll be running this operation of yours."

"Let's not get ahead of ourselves now", he snorted, almost embarrassed. "You did good, kid. Care to try another?"

"Sure!", she studied the trees, searching for more. Distant weeping noises indicated that he was likely correct in his earlier assessment- the rain had affected more than just her main target, but something stopped her from running after them to finish them while they were unable to fight back. Instead, she turned back to Prince Taurus.

"I've been wondering... who did you hate?"

"Excuse me?"

"You why I'm here. Who I hated enough to wake up Rusalka within me. I'm just wondering, that's all. Curious."

"So you can feel curiosity after all", he remarked dryly. "Confidence is nice, but it's not so effective when the person you're talking to knows you're bullshitting, you know? Trust me kid, you've still got a long way to go before you're anywhere near my level. I trained with Mithras for years to get this powerful."

"Good for you", she rolled her eyes. "Don't change the subject. Who did you hate? Spill."

Shifting uncomfortably, he took a seat on a moss-covered stump. "It's... not exactly a 'who'. More of a 'what'. You've met my sister at school, haven't you?"

She tried not to make her automatic snort of disgust too obvious. "I have." Kotone Samesaji was a nobody, another face in the crowd, who only stood out for being part of a certain subset of girls in her school who were so lacking in self-esteem that they tended to just go along with whatever other people did or said. She'd even joined the fencing club to try and spend more time with Tsuruga before realizing that it wasn't something she found fun and quit. While she'd been seen with another male student recently, Benihime remained confident that connection was born out of pity and would be abandoned soon enough.

"I love her", Ryuken made it sound like a forlorn lament. "She's all I have left. Our parents abandoned us when we were young. We were stuck in the foster system for years, 'til it spat us out and left it up to me to find a job that could put a roof over our heads. I swore then, that I would do anything to make it happen. She deserved that much. But..."

"But?" Despite her usual veneer, she found herself interested.

"But", he scowled, "the more I looked, the more I realized that there was nothing I could do. No one would hire me. Not with nothing but a high school education, and I couldn't afford anything better. For months, I went around to every business and office I could see, sent my application in to a thousand places. No one replied. No one cared."

Doing some quick math, Benihime looked closer at the memories of despair behind his eyes, remembering her father's words to her then. "Oh. That was what, four, five years ago, right? During the recession? No one was hiring back then. No one could."

"Oh, they could", he countered with a bitterness that froze her soul, his single earring swaying almost hypnotically. "I saw it damn near every time I went into one of those cushy offices to prostrate myself in front of them. They hired family. They hired college grads with slick suits and slick hair and famous names. They hired people with past experience. But not me. Never me. Our money started running out. Our little ten foot unit was behind on rent, and even the cheapest food was drifting out of my reach. Kotone tried fasting to try and make it last longer... I'll never forget the sounds her stomach made at night."

Now she could say nothing at all, for once. Even during the recession, her father had kept her well fed and well sheltered. For her, recession was just a word. A thing that had happened that had hurt a lot of other less fortunate people, and businesses.

"But then", he brightened, "then the Karma club accepted my application. They needed someone who could take over for the old manager after he retired, keep the performers organized and double as a bouncer if I had to. It was perfect for me. Perfect." Staring up into the leafs and lights above, he settled back down with a self-effacing laugh. "Well, more like it was the only job that took me. But believe it or not, I'm actually a pretty damn good singer. Just try me. Name a tune."

"Maybe later", Benihime giggled. She had been told that her own singing voice was atrocious, but what did that bitch Sonoka know? Maybe she could try out at the club and spare herself the indignity of waitress training.

"But the old manager quickly figured out my real talent", Ryuken continued. "Not that I had to do it that often, but when I got the chance it was like an early Christmas present. If some guy was making a scene, it was my job to stop him, maybe rough him up a bit if he wouldn't settle down, and get him out of the club. In fact, a few years ago we even got visited by Enmikaeda's guys."

"Enmikaeda?"

He blinked. "I guess you wouldn't know. Enmikaeda is the new rising star of the Dragon syndicate for the last three years or so. You know, the Yakuza. He's primarily based in Tokyo of course, but he's got his fingers everywhere in the country, even here on Shikoku island. I'm pretty sure that Xtriqation gives him a small cut of their profits to stay in business, and so do a lot of other places. Not us, though. Not after they tried bullying us."

"And you stopped them?", she considered incredulously.

"It might have been difficult", he admitted, "if Lady Scorpio hadn't helped me out. Helped me to Awaken Mithras. When they gave up on negotiating and tried to bulldoze us, I had a phial of dreamwine ready to go, just like the one that you used at your old man's place. With Mithras' strength, I tore them down, one by one." His handsome face tightened into a savage, haunting grimace. "They stopped coming around after that."

"Just like that?", she asked. Even with her upbringing, Benihime had heard stories of the syndicate's terrifying tenacity and ferocity. Even one of their major leaders having a change of heart and blabbing his head off to the police wasn't enough to do more than mildly inconvenience them for a few years.

"Just like that", he echoed. "Maybe if we were in Tokyo, it wouldn't have ended so easily. But Enmikaeda had a smaller crew here on Shikoku island. He can't just throw their lives away trying to shut down one measly business that isn't willing to pay up. He- or at least whoever he has in charge over here- knew we were more trouble than we were worth."

"They could still try", she warned him. "All they have to do is light the place on fire at night. You can't stay awake all the time to stop them."

He chuckled. "Oh, no. Haha... That's the beauty of it. The air on the inside of our club is saturated with enough dreamwine that normal fires don't spread nearly as fast as they should in there. They even tried that once, a couple years back, but I just used Mithras' ice to stop it before it got too bad. No point in wasting a good fire extinguisher, am I right?"

Beaming at the memory as well as the surprise on her face, he leaned back. "There's still a bit of charring left over from that on the right wing exterior windows. Just haven't gotten around to fixing it yet. But that was the last straw for Lady Scorpio."

Green eyes widening greedily, Benihime leaned closer. While the club's hostess had been so disarmingly polite and patronizing around her that it was kind of irritating, she knew that had to be a facade. No one could be that way all the time, and she would never forget that first tantalizing taste of Cleopatra's radiant power. "What did she do?"

"She reached out to the man in charge of Enmikaeda's operations on Shikoku island", he smirked. "She used her Persona's powers to touch his mind at night, and cause him endless nightmares until he finally cracked and gave up. Now, they'll never try anything with us again as long as he's in charge. In fact, we pay them to help warehouse our Shadows and dreamwine."

"Wicked", she grinned back savagely. Not even the Yakuza could oppose them. The more she learned about this Masked Circle, the more she wanted the power they offered. And I will have it, no matter how much I have to train. That decrepit old woman can't stay on top forever. Some day... some day... we'll see just how polite she can be when she has a sword in her fat belly. Then, the Masked Circle will be mine. Mine.

"So you can see", Ryuken went on more calmly, "just how much really I owe Lady Scorpio. Not just for the Persona, but for giving me a good, paying job when no one else would. If it wasn't for that, both me and Kotone would prolly be dead of starvation right now. You owe her too, now. Don't forget that."

"I won't", Benihime acknowledged. Queen Aquarius grinned inside. I'll devour her slowly, so she can feel every inch of the pain.

"But I'm getting off track here", he apologized. "The anger that I felt during that time of my life, the sounds of my sister's stomach eating itself... that didn't leave me. I realized the truth then."

"Hm? What truth?"

His eyes hardened, as if a layer of frost had formed over them, abruptly growing so furious that she took an involuntary step back, for the first time encountering the full icy brunt of his darkest side. "That this world that humans built is completely, hopelessly distorted. I'm strong enough to crush all of those old farts with one hand, and yet there I was, begging them on my knees for scraps from their money vaults."

A dark veil seemed to cover his face as he spoke, gradually built up from years of repressed anger and resentment. "And those... those are just the smallest examples of their kind. Just one of the big fish in Tokyo has more wealth in their accounts than the entire island of Shikoku! Yet they let the communities starve and fall apart, they let people die, just to build themselves up even more."

"That's just natural though", Benihime argued, surprising even herself with how quickly she was willing to stand up for the father she had discarded days ago. "The most ruthless businessmen get the money, so they get to make the rules."

"No", he snarled, turning the full blast of his fury on her now, standing up to his full height, his eyes flaring wide, shaking, almost looking like they were glowing in the forest's light. "No, no, no, no, no, NO! It's wrong. It's wrong. That is not 'natural'. That's exactly the opposite of 'natural'! Natural would be if the strongest had the most wealth, the most power! Legem Naturae!"

She said nothing, for once too frightened by what she saw in his eyes to argue back any more. Whatever pleasantry was normally in his expression was gone, replaced by something that was so much more than just another stereotypical 'angry young man'. This was something merciless. Something born from sheer hatred, just as Rusalka had been... only this felt even deeper, somehow. A bitter frost that could not be melted by any amount of warmth.

"I had hoped the Phantom Thieves would be our Salvation", he remarked, cooling down a notch, just enough so that he was no longer visibly shaking with anger. "They brought down the worst of them, all those wretches who cheated their way into wealth and power, exposed their lies, and made them beg for forgiveness. I loved it. I was a devoted fan of them, even if I couldn't afford a computer to visit their Phansite much. But... then they just... stopped. They left, without a damn word as to why. They abandoned the social reform that millions of oppressed people everywhere had been crying out for!"

"The Phantom Thieves", Benihime murmured softly. Naturally, her father hadn't thought very highly of them either, and she had been the same back then.

Were things any different now?

"Meeting their leader in person confirmed it", Ryuken said acidly. "In the end, they weren't warriors at all. They were just a bunch of snot-nosed kids, too gutless to make any real change in the world. They weren't the saviors I thought they were. Disappointing as hell, but here we are. No. If I wanted to see the changes the world needs, then there was only one way to bring it. Lady Scorpio's plan. Salvation."

"So that's what you hate", she mused quietly, drawing back. "You hate the world too?"

"No. I don't hate the world. I hate this world's distortion", he corrected sharply. "And I'll beat down whoever I have to in order to eradicate that distortion forever, and build a new world from my own strength. S'what I'm good at, after all." Realizing for the first time the mounting fear in Benihime's eyes, Prince Taurus shrugged, removing his hornet helmet to let his hair breathe. "Sorry if that scared you a bit. But it's the real truth. The honest truth of how I really feel."

Benihime Kujou might have been frightened by him. Queen Aquarius wasn't. If anything, she was impressed. "I... appreciate that. That was my problem too, really. No one ever reveals what they're really thinking any more. Everyone just wears masks. Everyone has to act a certain way, like we're all just performers on stage. It disgusted me. It still does. So... thank you for revealing your true self to me, Prince Taurus."

"And thank you" Rising, he took her offered hand. "Thank you, Queen Aquarius."

On that day, over one hundred Shadows perished at their hands.

---

7/27 Monday

Afternoon

Stepping into what was fast becoming a common sight during their time in Tokyo- an apartment unit that seemed two shades too small for someone to live there- Jiachi looked at the interior and winced. "Seriously? She really needs to hire an interior decorator. Even bare drywall would be better than this."

The black wallpaper could have been charming from a distance, he supposed, acting as a starfield. But this wasn't a distance. The kitchen-slash-living quarters had walls set close together, so that the turquoise stars lining the black merely looked obnoxiously big, like a child's impression of space.

From inside the red satchel on his back, Morgana's head popped out, curious bright blue eyes scanning the unit and immediately drawing the same conclusion. "I did warn you that she's a little... odd. Not so much as when we first met her, but... yeah."

Coming in behind them, Noel tapped his phone as a reminder. "I believe we established that when we got her rather... unorthodox message. That's the first time I've seen someone able to intrude on a group chat like that without being invited."

"Yeah", Julian chuckled, setting his bag down on the floor to let Morgana out of it. "I'd show the record to someone, but I don't want to get her in trouble. I just hope she realizes that's not cool to do regular-like."

The 'inner chamber' was no less cramped, and no less covered in the strange black and green stars wallpaper. Worse, the floor was covered in enough random papers to conceal it completely. The rest of the room showed an equal disregard for aesthetics. "Geez. Makes my room look like a... thing that is clean?"

The mop of long orange hair seated behind the tall black chair didn't seem to react to his remark, small hands busily typing away so quickly at the keyboard of the enormous ebony monolith of a computer that what exactly they were doing seemed indiscernible, commands transferring to the wide screen but forming results only understandable to the typist alone.

"Um...?"

"Give her a moment", Morgana advised. "I can't tell if this is actually something that important or she's just being usual self. We'll give her five minutes, maximum."

Jiachi only waited through three minutes of silent, rapid-fire key clacking before lightly striking the door to the room, eliciting a startled scream from the chair's occupant, standing up in her seat. Seeing her guests caused the chair to fall over, dumping her onto the floor. Noticing for the first time that she was wearing little more than a skintight black leotard, Noel averted his eyes, facing the wall. "Our sincerest apologies, Alibaba. We did not mean to intrude."

"Intrude?", Julian grunted. "She invited us here. And then completely ignored us. Maybe if you were really into some kinda online game I'd get it, but she was just typing away at something."

"Pre-made", the thin girl's protest was quiet but oddly urgent. Like Akira, she wore glasses- goggle-shaped ones that now hung skew before she picked them back up. "Pre-made. Kit for opening a Krypto-Algon 12.0 security package, and making sure it stays open for you. Geo-based anti-trojan algorithms are a bit tricky but you just have to bootleg the patch history first and add the next matching ID sequencer in, make them think it's a legit service update file sent by Algon soft. Then it accepts the new code, and you're good to go."

The two boys and the cat stared back silently, none of them understanding more than a third of what she'd just said. "It's nice to see you too, 'Oracle'", Morgana managed at last. "Your room looks tidier than I remember from last time."

"Tidier?!", Julian's voice rose in alarm. "Man, this place is a sty-hole! And comin' from me, that's saying something."

"Rude", Futaba Sakura remarked irritably, carefully propping her chair back up. While her experiences with the Phantom Thieves had drastically helped to improve her cleanliness habits and ability to socialize with others, some routines- the routines of a master hacker- were too deeply embedded to change. Nor did she express any desire to change them. No sooner was she back in her chair than she resumed typing for another incredulous thirty seconds before abruptly stopping.

"So", she began in a more melodramatic tone. "You've finally made it this far! Nwehehehe... well done, dear heroes!"

The chair spun around, revealing Futaba had steeped her hands together, a bald-faced parody of countless supervillains. "Yes, I am Lord Alibaba. But you will not defeat my perfect plans!"

Once again she was greeted with a stunned silence, none of them quite sure what to say, and once again it fell to Morgana to break the ice. "Not bad. I'd give it a 7.5 out of 10. You need to improve your evil laugh, maybe get some lights going in here. This darkness can't be good for your eyes anyway."

"I can't concentrate when the lights are on", Futaba protested before turning to the others as if everything was normal. "The computer lights are fine. So you're the new gen?"

"Pardon?", Noel frowned.

"The new generation", Jiachi translated. "Meaning we're the next bunch to find Personas and have to deal with some crazy subconscious world-kinda crap. I think."

"So one of you is smart at least", Futaba scoffed. "Let me guess... you're the leader? You seem to be pretty sharp."

While he allowed a certain amount of relish in the comment, Jiachi shook his head. "Yeah, nice try. You were spying on our chat logs. So you already know that Tsuruga-chan is our captain. Not me."

"Yep", the hacker giggled playfully. "Just testing. You seem like the kind of guy with a big ego who wants it fed."

"What are you", he grumbled, trying not to let it show how much her observations hurt, "Niyoga?"

"Shukiji Niyoga", Futaba considered, as if he'd started a brand new conversation. "Consistently the top-graded student at Koashimizu academy for three years running. Possesses strong antisocial tendencies."

"Like you're one to talk about that", Morgana chirped. "So... you said that you found something that might be of use to them, right?"

"Right." She spun back to the keyboard, stretching her hands out before returning to rapid-fire keystrokes, bringing up a new window.

"That seems unnecessary", Noel observed. "Can't you simply use the mouse and windows interface?"

"Peh. Newb.", Futaba scoffed. "Stripped all that crap away first thing. All that stuff is just to make using computers easier for the newbs. It masks the code beneath. Any real hacker learns to use basic, makes it easier to understand how to break other systems."

"Right", Jiachi snapped his fingers. "Kurusu said that you were some kind of legendary hacker. The original Medjed, right? Before they went all black hat."

"And you know your terminology", she remarked, sounding slightly more impressed with him. "So glad that I don't have to deal with those big mouths ruining the Medjed name any more. Here we are."

The next message was at least legible, but contained so much small text that Jiachi still found his eyes getting lost in it. "Something about a government official. Someone under minister Tamagami."

"Nooo", Futaba corrected. "Someone under Shido. This was from before Tamagami was prime minister, but they were still working for him. Notice how there's absolutely no mention of Shido in here, and it's all kept super vague. 'The special division.' 'Our project.' 'The next plan.' I'm about 90% sure they're talking about the mental shutdown business."

"There are blueprints", Morgana mused, focusing on the more easily understandable graphics. "Plans for some kind of building, maybe?"

"And those are cells", Noel recognized with growing alarm. "Transparent walls, with only one door. Small grills installed in the top corners that connect to the vents... does that remind you of anything?"

"Yeah", Julian's voice was nearly a whisper. "It's what Tsuruga-chan said the basement of the Karma club was like. 'Cept that place had several doors."

"I reconstructed this from the computer of a private contractor", Futaba explained. "The shady kind, who can build stuff secretly if you pay them extra under the table. And every bit of this data says that this was one of those times. Idiots deleted all the blueprints but didn't torch the computer. That always leaves traces behind, even if some data's missing. Sure, they had some good protection on it, but not enough."

"The facility", Noel realized, eyes widening. "Yumika-san talked about it. Scorpio was there."

"Uh-huh", despite the revelation Futaba sounded bored, stretching. "And there is one name attached to the facility. The guy in charge, chief of security. Osamu Sanaki. Looked him up too, and he used to be a bodyguard for Tamagami in the United Future party before he died."

"Died?"

"Officially died", she corrected. "Record says he got in a car crash on his way to work. Strange thing is, there's nothing in the data about who the perp was. A hit and run in Tokyo? Pretty rare. You can't go fast enough to make sure you'll get away, and everyone has phones to snap a picture of you."

"Cover up", Jiachi deduced, snapping his fingers. "He died a different way, but they wanted it kept quiet."

"Prolly", Futaba agreed. "And guess whose brother, Takahita Sanaki, is now working in JCAP? Go on. I'll wait."

"Connections", Noel remarked approvingly. "The Masked Circle didn't simply spin itself out of the aether. No one does. 'Queen Aquarius' had a family, and so does 'Prince Taurus'. It's only natural that 'King Leo' would have the same."

"Peh. Lame names for bad guys", Futaba sniffed, pinching the bridge of her glasses. "5 out of 10, at best."

"King Leo used to be in the United Future party", Morgana pointed out impatiently. "But now he's working outside of it? Something must have happened."

"Bet I know what happened", Jiachi snorted from his relaxed lean on the bed. "He went completely batshit insane. You heard what Nijima-san said, how he was goin' on about all the stuff the 'voices' were telling him." Seeing the Futaba suddenly went still, he frowned. "What? Don't tell me you're sensitive. You're like what, 21? Don't tell me you haven't heard swearing."

"No", Morgana scolded him. "But Futaba... she... used to hear voices too."

"Not anymore", she quickly pointed out, all her previous sarcasm vanished. "Thanks to you. But maybe... maybe if you hadn't, I might've gone crazy as Sanaki is now. Or died. I... thought about it a few times."

"I'm glad to see that you recovered", Noel said, eager to get them off such a bleak subject. "Surely this younger Sanaki, Takahita, would know more of the mysterious fate that befell his brother, yes? Perhaps we could ask him."

"Mm. That would be tough", Morgana cautioned him as he wound between Futaba's exposed legs. "He's not likely to spill those kinds of secrets to anyone, even if he knows anything important. Just trying to ask about that would make him cautious. He might even retaliate and warn his superiors."

"Not like JCAP needs another reason to hate him", Jiachi pointed out mirthlessly. "Or me, actually. Well, they hate half of me. Maybe the captain can do it. She doesn't stand out as much as we do."

"They're so loud online", Futaba lamented. "It really makes me want to do something to shut them up... but Makoto and Akira said I shouldn't. They said they have the right to express their own opinions. Even if those opinions stink."

"Well, what about Tamagami himself?", Morgana suggested. "He's got to know something too. You could investigate him, right Futaba?"

"Tried already", Futaba waved the idea away like a fly. "Didn't find anything. There isn't even any indication that he knew about the mental shutdown business at all. He's clean. Well, clean as anyone who ever worked with Shido can be."

"We'll think of something", Jiachi mused into his clasped hands, vaulting off the bed and smiling. "Thanks, Sakura-san. You've been a big help to us."

"Kthanksbye."

Her abrupt reply brought him up short, and hearing sisses of stifled laughter from Morgana he shook it off. "No, really. I mean, we already know that the facility was built on Shikoku island, and now we know who did it. All we gotta do now is find it, and get our answers."

Noel shook his head, his necklace swaying with him. "I think you underestimate just how big Shikoku truly is. You've only ever been to Koashimizu, Ashizuri and Tosashimizu city, yes? The island has over a dozen small cities like that."

"Maybe", he allowed. "But just think of how much harder it would be to find if it was built somewhere here in Tokyo. We could spend our entire school year here searching and barely scratch the surface."

"Being on Shikoku also means that it's less likely to be guarded", Morgana grudgingly pointed out. "If it was here, it would be easy to just hire a few guards and stick them in front of a locked gate. Without the Metaverse app we would never be able to get in. But just the fact that they built it out in the middle of nowhere says to me that they were relying on secrecy over security."

"Hey", Julian called defensively. "Shikoku isn't 'nowhere'."

"You'll have to forgive them", Noel remarked in a rare jest. "Tsuruga-chan did tell us. For the people of Tokyo, anywhere outside of this city is 'nowhere'. No city in this country even begins to approach its size and population. There's a reason why most politicians restrict their campaigns to here, though I have heard of some exceptions to the rule."

"Toranosuke Yoshida", Futaba called out smartly. "Guy made history by going around to like a dozen cities near here. Didn't win, but points for effort."

"Shikoku isn't nowhere", Jiachi protested again, more distantly, more softly. "It's not."

"Regardless", Noel took over, "we do at least have a lead now, from which we can learn our enemies' secrets, yes? We thank you, Sakura-san. Your 'payment' is in the kitchen."

Seeing another unreadable expression on the young hacker's small face, Morgana's tail twitched. "Don't worry about it. She just isn't used to being called 'Sakura-san'. People usually call her dad that. To us, she's just Futaba. Or Oracle."

"I... see. We'll get out of your way then."

The difference in the quality and pressure of the air made itself evident as soon as they stepped out of the room. As promised, they had brought along bags of groceries to stock up Futaba's nearly empty cupboards. "She hates grocery shopping", Morgana explained, "too many people in the stores, all packed together. She's definitely come a long way since we first met her though."

"I thought so", Jiachi seconded, coming out of his earlier funk. "Takamaki-san said something about it too. Around this time six years ago, you were all going through Futaba's Palace, right? Trying to change her heart for her?"

"Oh yeah", Morgana remembered, a mixture of reminiscence and annoyance arising in him. "That place was way too hot, even hotter than summer here. Better inside, except for all the traps and Shadows everywhere."

"Glad we never had to deal with that", he considered. "Although I guess my Land was a bit hot and sandy too. Hey... Wait just one sec, okay? I'm gonna ask her online handle."

"It's Alibaba", Morgana sounded amused. "Free tip, though? Don't try it. Futaba's very bright, but unskilled in the ways of romance. Besides... I hear she's already got a thing going with Mishima."

"Who's Mishima?"

"Exactly."

Even now, with the sun at its apex, it suddenly felt a bit less sweltering than before.

---

A/N: I think the talk between Akira and Aiko on leadership was my favorite part of this very long chapter to write. I almost had Akira go down the list of his own allies too and pointing out flaws with each of them that made them less suitable to lead the Phantom Thieves, but that would've made it even longer and it felt out of character for him to do it willingly.

Hope everyone's surviving this year okay.