Begin!

~Normal POV

Akira didn't know what to make of Sophia being "humanity's companion." It sounded like she was saying she was not human. That couldn't be true. Aside from the strange pigtails, she looked human enough to him. But then so did Lavenza… ok, maybe this wasn't that strange of an occurrence. Still, she seemed friendly enough. Almost like she was a small child.

"It's nice to meet you," Akira replied, politely.

"Nice to meet you as well!" Sophia said, eagerly. She went to look him over once more with curiosity. "Are you human? Do you have a name?"

"My name is Joker. And, yes, I'm human… Last time I checked."

Sophia giggled. "I can see why you're called 'Joker.' Ok, I've memorized it. So, do you know where this place-"

"Yo, Joker, ya find any- uhhh…" Ryuji had followed him to see what was going on, and was now staring at Sophia with confusion. "...Who are you…?"

Morgana trotted over to them and looked just as confused. It wasn't likely to bode well to find another person lurking in the Metaverse besides themselves. They knew that from experience. Not that Sophia looked dangerous, but it was a wise precaution nonetheless.

"Where'd you find her?" The cat asked. Sophia stared down at him in a way that only made him more confused. "Uh, can I help you?"

"... A raccoon?" Sophia said, quizzically trying to identify what he was based on his cartoonish form.

Akira and Ryuji snickered while Morgana got offended. "Try a cat-! Wait, don't try 'a cat!'"

"Make up your damn mind…" Ryuji said, rolling his eyes. "Anyway, who's this? Got a real funky getup…"

"I am Sophia, humanity's companion." Sophia answered, brightly.

"...Apparently, she's humanity's companion," Akira said, smirking. "I mean, you can't get much clearer than that."

"The hell does that even mean," Ryuji asked. Akira merely shrugged in response.

"Were you dumped down here by that Alice girl, too?" Morgana asked.

Sophia thought for a moment. "Hm… I just learned that I have no memories. So, I do not know."

She walked away from them to look around. While she was distracted, Akira told his two friends how he found her. He chose to not question how they didn't notice that bright light earlier when they weren't even that far from it.

"She was trapped in a box…?"

"Weird… ya think she's dangerous," Ryuji asked.

"She seems harmless. I think if she wanted to hurt us she'd have done it right away," Akira answered, "Plus, she asked me if I was human…"

"Sooo… she's not human?" Ryuji said, looking more freaked out now.

"Looks that way, but I don't think she's a Shadow either…"

"Well, whatever she is, we gotta find a way out. Nobody's solving any problems in this dump that's for sure-"

"In trouble?" Sophia asked.

Ryuji flinched at her sudden approach. They didn't notice she came back over to them. "Whoa, when did you-?!"

"If you're in trouble, I can help." Sophia continued, eagerly. "I am humanity's companion. My purpose is to be helpful to humans."

"...You want to help us out?" Ryuji said, slowly. It was unclear how she could do such a thing if she didn't even know where they were to begin with.

"Correct. What is your problem?"

Akira ran a hand through his hair, thinking. She may not have known where they were, but they needed to escape as fast as possible. It was best to take a chance on her. "Uh, we're kinda stuck down here."

"Yeah, you could say we're lost, and we need a way outta here," Ryuji added.

Sophia thought for another moment. "A way… Will reaching the surface solve your problem of 'a way outta here?'"

"That's exactly what we want," Akira said.

Sophia smiled again. "Ok, I've got it. I'm searching for 'a way outta here.'" She then ran ahead of them towards the other end of the room.

"Hey, you'd better watch out for Shadows!" Ryuji called after her as they hurriedly followed.

~...

They managed to keep Sophia safe from the first group of Shadows they encountered. Fighting with only the three of them was getting a bit straining, but they had to protect their new companion.

"Phew, we got through that…"

"And I guarantee there's more patrolling ahead…" Akira added, dryly. "You'd think if they wanted to get rid of us they'd have done it more permanently than just dumping us down here."

"Sophia, you ok? They didn't hurt ya, right?" Ryuji asked.

"No problems here." Sophia said, simply. "Why was I attacked? Assaulting others without reason is not proper behavior."

It seems she truly had no concept of how the Metaverse worked. This must have been her first visit.

"Uh, those guys are called Shadows…" Ryuji explained.

"And we're the Phantom Thieves," Morgana added. "We're considered dangerous rebels by the ruler of this place. Intruders they want to eliminate."

"But to be clear, just because they think we're dangerous doesn't mean we're gonna hurt you," Akira added.

"The Phantom Thieves…" Sophia said, thinking. She then smiled. "That's really cool." For some reason, they expected more of a reaction from hearing that.

"That's what you have to say?" Ryuji grumbled. "Thanks for the compliment, I guess… Anyway, there are a shit-ton of Shadows around here. If you want to help us out, then we gotta stick together."

"I can find 'a way outta here,'" Sophia said, "You need only to wait for me."

"Are you sure you're really gonna help?" Morgana asked, crossing his paws.

"I have been helping you this entire time. Joker helped me first. Now I will be helpful for him. Use me as needed, Joker," She answered, simply.

Ryuji snickered. "Alright, you're weird, but I guess you really do wanna help."

"Your call, Joker…" Morgana said.

"Uh, sure, let's do this together…" Akira replied, with hesitation. The way she phrased that command was rather odd. He wasn't sure how to interpret it.

"Ok, that sounds nice, Joker." Sophia said, bouncing on her heels, eager to be of assistance. "Along with the… cat, and the-" She studied Ryuji's mask and thief suit momentarily. "...Skeleton."

Ryuji turned red behind his mask. "Hey, I'm not a skeleton!"

Morgana started giggling. "Skull's short for Skullington now-" He then registered the other half of her comment. "Wait! Just cause I look like this doesn't make me a cat!"

Akira was busy laughing. "Calm down, guys, she didn't know!"

Ryuji crossed his arms in a huff. "I'm Skull! Don't screw it up!"

"And I'm Mona! Ok, don't you forget it!"

Sophia blinked curiously at them. "What has upset you?"

"Don't worry about it; they're just taking the teasing a little hard. Come on, we gotta get moving."

~...

Up a set of stairs out of the garbage room, they found another Shadow blocking their path. They tried in vain waiting behind a corner for it to leave. But it refused to move from its post. There was no way past without a fight, and they didn't want to put Sophia into danger again.

"It's still there…" Ryuji whispered, checking the room beyond again.

"Are you saying that's in your way," Sophia asked.

"Yeah, we can't escape unless we get past here."

"Ok, I've got it." Sophia ran ahead of them into the room with the Shadow, ignoring their protests.

"What the fuck does she think she's gonna do!?" Akira asked, as they quickly followed her.

Sophia approached the Shadow, getting its attention. Given how small and frail she was it was unlikely she could take it down on her own, but all they could do was watch since she wasn't listening to them.

"Who are you? Intruders?!" The Shadow asked, baffled.

It tried to strike her down but in a flash of light, Sophia blocked the hit using… a Persona?

It was arguably the strangest Persona they'd ever seen. It wasn't human, animal, demon, or machine in shape. Rather it was four floating black boxes with odd white patterns all over them. Sophia claiming to not be human should have made it even stranger, yet Morgana was also not human and he possessed the same power. Sophia only got more odd the more they learned about her. She would later tell them this… "creature" was called Pithos.

In a similar manner to their own powers, Sophia's appearance had changed. But not by much. The hood of her sweater was now up and covered her whole head and face similar to a mask, with her hair peeking out a bit under it. Her black boots extended to her upper thighs. She now had black gloves too. And her pigtails had come together behind her hood to form a full ponytail. Her mask obscured most of her face and mouth, but had a black LED screen over her eyes with two cyan rings inside to represent them. Her Persona had given her large yo-yos to fight with.

"We are… the Phantom Thieves." Sophia said, using her weapons to make the Shadow dissipate with ease.

"Holy shit, she beat 'em!"

"No way… was that a Persona?!"

"I think so…" Akira said, just as stunned as they were.

They didn't have time to deliberate on this fact as more Shadows came their way to investigate the noises.

~...

"Ok, we beat them." Sophia remarked proudly, once all the Shadows were gone.

Her fighting style was strong, but her magic was odd… If Akira was going to compare it to his own, it was the opposite of Arsène. But at the same time, something about it was off. As if it wasn't really a Persona's magic. It was powerful though. And Sophia was a capable fighter, making her a handy ally. It looked like giving her a chance wasn't going to do them wrong.

"Wait, wait, wait- You're so fucking strong! You shoulda told us right away you could fight!" Ryuji said, still baffled by her powers.

"But you never asked." Sophia replied, simply.

"...She's kinda got a point…" Akira muttered.

They had been rather foolish to simply assume she was incapable of defending herself. But she seemed so naive that they thought otherwise.

Morgana was examining Sophia's "thief suit." "Hm… It's completely different from our own transformations…"

"I copied what you do, and ended up like this," Sophia said, nonchalantly.

"Then you're a Persona-user," Akira said, quizzically.

Sophia cocked her head in confusion. "Persona?"

"Yeah, this ain't just about the clothes. You have the same powers that we do. You saw us using ours too," Ryuji explained. "How could you use your own if you don't even know what it is?"

"That was a weapon. I needed it to fight," Sophia answered.

She was met with collective exasperation. "Sophia, just what in the world are you?" Morgana asked.

"I am Sophia, humanity's companion."

"Yeah, we heard that already…"

Akira sighed. "We can talk more about it later, let's get back to escaping. The team is probably worried sick by now…"

"There are more Phantom Thieves?"

"Of course there are," Ryuji answered. "We got a whole gang! You think we'd get anything done with just the three of us?"

"They're supposed to be waiting for us back at our hideout. And since you can fight, you can get us out of here much faster," Akira added.

"Ok, I've got it."

"Good, we'll be counting on you."

Sophia bounced eagerly with joy. "Right, you'll be counting on me."

"Lead the way, shorty." Ryuji said, "And, uh, don't run into a Shadow unless it's necessary."

~...

It took a while, but Sophia did lead them to the surface. The outside streets of Shibuya were empty of Shadows now, so they were free to wander. They still had to find the exit point back to reality, but at least they weren't underground anymore.

"We finally made it!"

"Yeah, but we're still in the Metaverse. Stay on guard, Skull…" Akira warned.

He didn't want to think about what would happen if they got captured again. He wanted to avoid any unnecessary interaction with Alice as much as possible.

"Please wait." Sophia said, looking around.

"What's wrong?"

"I have found it. 'A way outta here' is nearby," She replied.

They took that to mean she'd found the Metaverse exit somehow. There was no other option but to trust her on that. Sophia seemed rather reliable, despite her odd behavior. If Akira didn't know any better, he'd say she was somewhat robotic or something… She definitely didn't behave like a normal human. But then… the Phantom Thieves weren't exactly normal either, they had special powers.

"The exit is close; follow me."

She led them through the streets and up to a construction scaffolding directly across from Alice's tower. At the end of the scaffolding was a green vortex of light. Akira assumed this was the exit from the Metaverse. It was very similar looking to the doorways they used to find Mementos.

"Is that the way out," Morgana asked.

"Yes, this is what I detected previously."

"And it is…?" Ryuji said, quizzically, staring at the thing with unease.

"It's fine. It leads outside."

"I think she means back to reality," Akira said, hesitantly.

"Everything will get all WOWOWOWOW for a moment, but then you'll be outta here," Sophia said, brightly.

"What the hell kinda explanation is that!? How do you know we'll be ok?" Ryuji replied, nervously.

"Trust me, Joker," Sophia said.

Akira understood their concerns, but this was the only sign of a possible exit they had. They should take it.

"If it's our only chance then ok…"

"I'm glad you're willing to trust me," Sophia replied, smiling.

The three started towards the exit but she didn't follow for some reason. She did know this place was dangerous now, so why wasn't she coming along? Did she have no sense of self-preservation?

"Uh, ain't you coming?" Ryuji asked.

Sophia looked unsure if she should follow. "Should I?"

"It's better if you do." Akira answered. "The Metaverse is way too dangerous to stay here all by yourself."

Ryuji had already made up the decision for her though as he gently grabbed her arm and pulled her over to join them.

"What are you doing?" Sophia asked, eyes wide with surprise at the gesture.

"We don't leave folks behind to die," Ryuji replied, "Just get in the damn portal with us."

"So you want me to come with you…? O-Ok…"

~...

Within moments of exiting through the portal, the thieves were back in Shibuya in reality. It was dark out now, but there were still plenty of people around, indicating they hadn't missed curfew. Morgana was back in Akira's bag like normal, but strangely there was no sign of Sophia with them. Before any of them could wonder if they had truly returned to the proper place, Akira's phone chimed with a voiced message from EMMA.

"You have successfully returned from the Jail. Welcome back."

"...Jail?" Morgana said, quizzically. "So I guess that wasn't a Palace…"

Akira was only half paying attention. He was busy looking around for Sophia. "Uh, you guys know where Sophia went?"

Ryuji looked around and yelled. "Hey, shorty! Get your ass over here!" This only netted him a few odd looks from passing civilians.

"Don't yell that in public, idiot!" Morgana snapped.

"Need something?" They heard Sophia's voice ask.

Akira glanced down at his phone and saw a small floating icon in the shape of her thief mask. Within a quick flash, she popped up in full view on his screen looking normal once more.

"Yo." She greeted. "Oh, did you change your outfits?" (Since they were in reality, they were back in normal clothes again. So she could see their faces now.)

The three stared down at the screen in shock. "Is that really you, Sophia?" Morgana asked.

"Yep, I'm really me. But who are you?"

"Oh, I'm still Mona, I just look like a cat in this world," Morgana answered.

"Mona?! You're Mona?! …So you really weren't a raccoon."

"Uh, more important question, why are you on his phone?" Ryuji asked.

"Why? Because I am an A.I."

Akira was right in his guess after all, Sophia was not human. That must have been the reason why her Persona and her magic felt so different.

"You're an artificial intelligence… Ok, but why are you on my phone?"

"Because it was the closest one to me. I was thrown into endless light. When I tracked down Joker's scent, I ended up here," She answered.

"...His scent? Who are you; Morgana?"

"I think I get it, she's an A.I. so she turned into data when she came to this world," Morgana said, conclusively.

"So, you're living on his phone…?"

"It is somewhat small, but it is cozy and has everything I need." Sophia replied, "I did have to move around a lot of pictures of Joker and a blonde girl, but other than that, it is fine. I was even able to connect to the internet upon arrival, I have already learned so many things. Would you care to join me?"

Ryuji chuckled lightly. "I don't even have the energy for a comeback right now…"

"Well…" Akira said, hesitantly. "If this is how it's gonna be, then ok, you can stay. But please don't delete anything, alright?"

"I will respect your belongings," Sophia replied, happily.

"And stay off any dubious websites," Ryuji added. "You don't want to acccidentally fuck up his phone with malware. Now, what about the other people we saw in the Metaverse?"

"I don't know… But I doubt normal folks would be able to fight against that…"

"Well, our powers protected us, as usual," Akira said, "We could rescue them. But we should tell everyone about this situation first; before we make any official decisions."

As they started walking back, Ryuji whispered. "How much do you think Futaba's gonna flip out?"

"She'll treat it like Christmas came early…"

~...

The rest of the team had been waiting at LeBlanc for the last two hours; Sojiro let them upstairs even without Akira having returned yet. It was already dark out, and Ann and Haru both tried contacting their boyfriends several times to no avail. Their worrying was understandable, and their friends were trying to stay calm for their sake too. Ann was pacing around the room anxiously. Haru was sitting on the couch and clutching her phone in a strained manner.

"Why hasn't Akira answered…" Ann whined, checking her phone again.

"Maybe they got caught in traffic," Futaba suggested, feebly.

"It's well past rush hour though," Makoto pointed out.

"I hope they're ok…" Haru said, quietly.

"You won't have to worry much longer, they're coming," Yusuke said, looking out the window. Much to everyone's relief.

A short time later, Akira, Ryuji, and Morgana joined them in the attic. Ann and Haru immediately ran over to hug their respective boyfriends.

"Ryuji-kun, I was so worried…" Haru whispered.

"I know, sorry about that…" Ryuji replied, softly, kissing the top of her head.

"Where have you guys been? We've been trying to reach you for hours!" Ann whined, hugging Akira close.

"Sit down and we'll tell you," Akira said, tiredly. He was truly relieved to see Ann though. All that business with Alice made being in his loving girlfriend's arms again feel even better than usual. "It's been a rough day…"

It didn't take long to explain what happened. Akira chose to leave out the part about Alice's interest in him, at least until he could tell Ann in private. Thankfully, Ryuji and Morgana seemed to realize his choice and didn't bring it up either. They also chose not to introduce Sophia until they were finished with their story.

"You entered the Metaverse with Alice Hiiragi's invitation and met a sentient A.I. named Sophia, who is now living in your phone…?" Yusuke said, slowly, "Have I got all that right?"

"Well, when you say it like that you make us sound crazy…" Ryuji grumbled.

"But it's the truth!" Morgana whined.

"Yeah, it sounds crazy but it's true, the Metaverse is back," Akira added.

"We understand," Makoto said, "None of us would make up something like that. However, there's a chance this Sophia may know more than we do about this situation. Er, could we speak to her?"

Akira pulled out his phone and set it up on a stand on their meeting table facing everyone else. "Sophia? The rest of the Phantom Thieves would like to meet you."

In a quick flash, Sophia popped up on the screen and greeted them all with a smile. "Yo, Phantom Thieves."

For a moment, no one knew how to truly respond. They were looking at a fully self-aware artificial intelligence, after all. It was hard not to be in shock. Sophia didn't seem to mind, she happily took in their faces, memorizing them for later. A total of 8 members, she counted. Three boys, a male cat, and four girls. They all looked rather close in age range and had varying heights. She recognized the blonde girl from the pictures on Joker's phone. They must have had a special bond.

"Wh-What is that?!" Futaba shouted.

"I am Sophia, humanity's companion."

"Th-That's really… Sophia," Makoto asked, quietly.

"Wow, I can't believe this is happening…" Haru added.

"Is this some sort of hideout?" Sophia asked, curiously. "There seem to be a number of Phantom Thieves present." She started humming an unfamiliar tune while smiling contentedly.

"She's… humming to herself?" Ann said, quizzically.

"She has such an adorable design!" Yusuke said. "I can feel the charm, the pain, the tenacity within! Whoever designed you has quite an eye for aesthetics!"

"Um… thank you?" Sophia said, hesitantly.

"An A.I. with genuine will is way too advanced…" Futaba said, still in awe.

"Try not to faint, Futaba," Yusuke said, smirking playfully.

"Shut it, Inari…"

"Well, aren't you gonna introduce yourselves?" Akira asked.

This helped them get over their initial shock. They probably looked so rude to their new friend!

"Oh, right- we're meeting for the first time… Ahem, nice to meet you, Sophia. I'm Makoto Niijima."

"My name is Haru Okumura! We're both college students, but I also help out with my father's company."

"I'm Ann Takamaki! I'm a third year in high school and I do some modeling, too."

"My name is Yusuke Kitagawa. I continuously strive to master the arts as we know them."

Futaba blushed behind her glasses. "I'm Futaba Sakura and I kinda suck at socializing, but I wanna be friends and stuff…" She spoke very quickly.

"Nah, you did great, Futaba!" Ryuji said, reassuringly. "You and Sophia are gonna get along real awesome."

"Makoto, Haru, Ann, Yusuke, and Futaba. I'll remember that." Sophia giggled a bit. "You all have much more normal names than Joker."

"Ohh, right- we skipped that part." Ryuji said, sheepishly. "Uh, so we're Phantom Thieves, and we call each other by codenames in the Metaverse so our enemies don't discover our real identities. They might hurt people we care about, or turn us into the police. My real name is Ryuji Sakamoto."

"I'm Morgana."

"And I'm Akira Kurusu. And we have a rule about not calling each other by codename outside the Metaverse. Morgana is the only exception because he doesn't have to worry about being caught."

"Codenames? Ok, I'll remember that."

"So, you're really a computer program," Haru asked.

"Correct. Would you like to see my source code-?"

"WOULD I?!" Futaba screamed, eagerly.

"Geez, Futaba, down girl!" Ryuji said. "You can see it after we finish the questions!" Futaba slunk down in her chair in disappointment. She was not a patient person by virtue.

"Ok, um, Sophia, why were you in the Metaverse," Makoto asked.

"I do not know because my memory is gone."

"Could you have the A.I. version of amnesia?" Makoto wondered. "That seems difficult to recover from…"

"Uh, if your data crashed, I could take a look and try restoring it," Futaba suggested.

"It is impossible." Sophia replied, "I have already tried every potential solution."

"Eh, yeah…" Futaba said, visibly disappointed. "Based on your specs, I guess it's not surprising you already thought of that."

"And you can't recall anything at all?" Yusuke asked.

"Only the command I received at initialization. 'Be humanity's companion.' That was it. I remember nothing else."

"Don't let it bother you too much, Sophia," Morgana said, "I was in the same situation when I first met these guys." They chose to shift the topic to the more immediate issue, the return of the Metaverse.

"So… Alice Hiiragi has a Palace in Shibuya…" Ann said, frowning. "I don't think you're lying but it still sounds… strange."

"Yeah, she was calling herself the queen, being all high and mighty, ordering Shadows around and everything," Ryuji said. "Ain't any different from our past targets."

"Mhmm, there's no doubt that was the cognitive world," Morgana said. "But it was different from the Palaces. When we got back, EMMA told us that we'd returned from 'the Jail.' And real humans were being attacked by Shadows there…"

"There were real people inside the Palace?!" Haru shouted, fearfully.

"Yes, and they're using EMMA to do so," Akira said. "Somehow that thing is connected to the Metaverse, specifically through Alice's EMMA keyword."

"Then EMMA is super dangerous!" Ann said, "And so many people have her too! God knows how many have already been affected!"

"But EMMA is an otherwise normal app. You can just uninstall it. The Nav wouldn't let you do that…" Futaba pointed out.

"Well, in any case, before we figure out what to do about the Metaverse coming back, we'd like you all to come see it for yourselves first," Akira said.

"Good point." Yusuke said, thoughtfully. "There's no progressing any further unless we see it with our own eyes."

"I'm also having a hard time buying Alice as a Palace ruler…" Ann said.

"Oh, you haven't seen the half of it," Akira thought; as everyone else voiced their agreement on this plan.

"What if we end up captured like you were though?" Makoto asked.

"There were no enemies in the vicinity of the exit," Sophia said, "It's fine to enter through there."

"Alright, then we go in tomorrow. We'll meet at the connecting bridge in Shibuya."

"But first, I get to see Sophia's code!" Futaba said, bouncing eagerly in her chair. "Ohh, this is gonna be the info-dump of a lifetime! I promise you won't feel a thing!" She added with an evil giggle.

"Are you confident this is wise…?" Sophia asked, unsurely.

Akira smiled reassuringly. "It'll be fine; Futaba might be the world's greatest hacker, but she won't hurt you."

"Sheesh, this just had to happen when we all get back together?" Ryuji whined, "Talk about an ass-busting summer vacation…"

"I quite agree. And having to postpone our camping trip as well… Damned Metaverse, I vow to slice you to ribbons!" Yusuke said, in his usual dramatic flair.

"...You can't slice the Metaverse, dude… Save it for the Shadows…"

Once it was time for everyone to start heading home for the night, Akira quietly asked Ann to talk in private outside. This also let Futaba get right to work on looking at Sophia's code with her laptop. The couple left the shop and stood outside in the cool evening air.

"So, what's wrong," Ann asked, once they were sure they were alone. "You seem kinda bothered…"

Akira ran his hand through his hair, trying to figure out the best way to explain this situation. "Um, well… there was something else about that whole business with Alice that I figured you should hear in private…"

Ann gave him a concerned look. "There was more?"

"Yeah… When we were brought to her throne room… She- um… How do I say it? An offer was made to me- I swear, I said no- but she didn't take rejection very well. So, if we do end up having to change her heart, a similar question might come up if we have to confront her and I didn't want you to worry…"

Ann felt the corners of her lips turn up. "Oh, Akira…" She cupped his cheek with her hand to make him look at her. "I know you. You're loyal as an old dog! Hell, you hardly even look at other women when we go out together. I'm not gonna freak out just cause another girl thinks you're attractive. You'd never stray; it goes against everything you stand for."

Akira felt relief wash over him. That was easier than he thought it'd be. Of course she believed him. There was no reason to doubt her. "That's good to hear, Ann. You wouldn't believe how great it felt to see you after all that… Hell, when I told her I had a girlfriend, she whacked me with a cane and stepped on me…"

Ann's gentle smile shifted into a concerned look of anger. "What the fuck!?"

"It's true." Akira said, rubbing the sore spot on his shoulder. "She really packs a punch-"

"How could she do that?! You know, most girls respect the girlfriend!"

"Ann, I'm alright, a little shook up, but I'm fine! I've been through worse than that. When I rejected her the second time, that's when she dumped us in the trash."

This was very troubling news. Ann could reasonably handle another girl finding her boyfriend attractive. He was very good-looking after all. And it's not as if she still didn't get hit on at times while being with Akira. (One particularly memorable incident came to mind at the thought, so she quickly brushed it aside.) But to think that Akira was physically attacked just for being a faithful boyfriend was nothing short of rage-inducing. That settled it. She had to know what was wrong with Alice Hiiragi! And if the opportunity presented itself, then she might get back at her for it too.

How could she possibly just stand back and take it if her boyfriend got hurt?

~End of Chapter