When I Smile To You, My Heart Cries.

The brightest smiles hold the saddest hearts...


April-Early May, 2016.

As long as I live, I will never forget about April 15th and I will never forget how her leg looked when I rushed down from my class after she made the jump. The words Shiho spoke to me in my emotional distress will haunt my dreams forever.

"I'm sorry. I… I can't take this… anymore…"

That sick piece of shit Kamoshida had ruined her and he goes on with his day like the suicide attempt meant nothing to him.

When he couldn't get me to indulge in his pedohillic affair the fat bastard principal is willing to allow in his own school, he had to take it out on her as if physically abusing her during volleyball practice wasn't enough and I was fucking stupid to assume that playing along with the has-been gold medalist would have helped Shiho go the nationals.

How goddamn dense could you have been Ann to take a dirty horn dog like him at his word? The moment he first laid his lusting eyes on us, he covets for us and the principal would let him have it if it was possible for his golden boy to get away with it.

Most of the other students there that day barring two were gossiping to each other and having their phones out for the scene. Treating it like it was some kind of sick spectacle.

Then those faceless students later have the absolute nerve to gossip to each other on how Shiho did the jump for attention because of her being taken off the volleyball team while believing Kamoshida did nothing wrong when they think I can't hear them in the hallways a little after I had quietly grieved about it in private.

Try coping with having someone close to you try to take their own lives and say to me that they're also doing it for attention. Useless fuckers the whole lot of you. People like you are why Kamoshida acts like Shijin Academy is his castle.

At least Ryuji and the transfer student gave a shit about what's going on, even if they didn't want me to come along on their mission to Kamoshida's said castle because of how dangerous it is. I was a little livid over that but after my first trip in the Metaverse with Carmen for my Persona and seeing Kamoshida for who he truly is as a perverted slimeball through his Shadow, I understand Ryuji's reason for not wanting me involved in hindsight.

Carmen. I remember the story of Carmen and I also remember the character of Fujiko Mine from Lupin III as well as Catwoman from Batman from my days of traveling with my parents. All three must have been in my subconscious when I had my own awakening.

Heh. That would explain why my attire is a red skin tight bodysuit with the zipper hanging well below my collarbone and it having a cat's tail on it moving like a real cat's tail. Perhaps the suit is a response to how the other Shujin students view me as; a gaijin half-breed slut with a disposition like that of Carmen's and turning it into my own personal statement against them.

Whatever's the case, me slicing the pervert's cognition of me as a dumb bimbo and seeing him feeling intimidated by my wrath made me feel empowered. Knowing that he's a real cowardly shit when the dog bites back at him and my desire to make him pay for what happened with Shiho is too great for me to ignore.

So, I joined the other two Shujin students there at the palace plus that not-cat being who seemed to be infatuated with me in their mission to bring down Kamoshida before two of them would get expelled at the next board meeting on that basis at first. They want to bring him down as much as I do.

Though, I'd end up growing a bond with all three including the so-called convict newcomer who did more in one day than the council president ever did for me in two years by lending a listening ear to me at Big Bang Burger in Shibuya. The last place I'd ever thought to hold a serious conversation at and I had blown him off earlier when he happened upon my exchange with Kamoshida.

Letting me vent out my frustrations while he listened to every word of it without judging me for showing an unJapanese-like display and he even manages to lift my spirits by making light of his own reputation unfairly labeled on him by the other students whom I'm sure wouldn't enjoy being in the spotlight themselves for having an assault record that's nothing compared to the two years' worth of crimes Kamoshida does daily as a gym teacher including breaking Ryuji's leg...

The guy was a real looker for sure, far too pretty to be someone with a criminal record but then people assume Ryuji's just some vulgar thug and assume I'm a high-maintenance blonde that's too good for any male student to approach. Plus, I don't think those glasses he's wearing are even real.

He wasn't much of a talkative guy like Ryuji is and yet the words he speaks says more than entire paragraphs of speeches while being pretty understanding of me for being a new student. In a way, I'm a little envious of Ryuji for getting to know him on his first day… Yet I don't envy him for being in mortal danger on that same day.

With our mission set, we worked our way through the gym teacher's cognitive castle and being exposed to more of the man's sexual depravity that made me grow angrier inside the further we traversed it. Slaying a good number of Shadows with Carmen and her fire that some of them were weak to alongside the other three Persona users.

The sexualised aesthetics of the whole palace reflective of his perverted nature and the thought of his crimes going back further than his time in Shujin Academy made me feel revolted. I wanted to grab ahold of him so badly, tightly wrap my whip around his neck to the point of choking him, making him squirm under my boot and squealing like a pig taken to the slaughter while I castrate the rotten piece of human trash before force-feeding him his own severed balls until he gags on it.

It was certainly a thought I had entertained in the battle against him on the day we seized his treasure and the sight of his cognition of Shiho dressed in a erotic bunny attire nearly made me want to kill the bastard afterwards when he was begging for his life when we defeated him while I cornered him the way he had cornered Shiho, giving him a taste of his own medicine. Taunting him in how he gets to finally experience what it's like for his victim and sarcastically remarking about him being a great athlete.

The pathetic excuses he makes for his atrocities made me want to sneer at him in disgust if it weren't for the sight of the usually smug bastard cowering before us four and begging for his life like the worthless stain that he is. To say I didn't feel empowered by this display for everything he's done to the various students in Shujin would be a big fat lie, it nearly felt therapeutic for what he did on April 15th.

Morgana says I could make the call on killing off the dirtbag and seeing as we're the only ones to know about it, we could get away with murdering him. Ending his reign of fifth and degeneracy before being casted down in the deep abyss of helvetti where he'll burn for his sin of lust.

I was very tempted to do that but then I thought about Shiho and realized that killing him wouldn't undo his crime upon her. Killing him wouldn't make the scar in my heart go away either as it'll always be there.

I decided to do better than killing in cold blood and having the other guys there gave me the courage to rise above that desire for revenge in spite of them being on my side regardless of the choices I make. That didn't mean I wasn't going to make Kamoshida suffer for what he did while he tearfully asked for me to put him out of his misery once he relinquished his Treasure to us.

"You're kind, Lady Ann…"

Oh my dear sweet little Morgana… You have no idea on how cold humans can really be when we sentence scum like Kamoshida to fates worse than death and the knowledge that they'll live through it everyday til the hourglass of time runs out for them. If that's me being kind to you, then may you never have to see me being cruel and I hope to never go there myself.

The four of us counted down the days til the inevitable assembly meeting takes place with Kamoshida no where to be found after we took the treasure and I spent that time visiting Shiho at the hospital once I was allowed to come see her, having to see someone as compassionate as her look so utterly broken on that medical bed. I wondered if seeing her like this before the day of the calling card would have influenced my decision at Kamoshida's Palace or not.

Shiho being Shiho asked how I was doing and I humored her by letting my friend know about the new friend I made with the transfer student alongside rekindling my friendship with Ryuji. She was happy that me and Ryuji are on proper speaking terms now as well as me getting along with the new student.

"All those rumors and gossip spread about him… Poor guy could really do with having company that can treat him like a human being. I'm glad he has you Ann."

When you put it that way, I think I needed company like his' as well. Another person with an outsider's perspective and he just happens to be someone I really needed to speak to when I was feeling trapped in an unwinnable position.

Funny. How the student with a criminal record has more of a caring heart than the so-called national gold medalist hero entrusted with the responsibility to look after the student he couches and he says he'll be a problem for Shujin Academy…


On the day of the assembly meeting, the fat bastard principal addressed the suicide attempt in the most disgenuious act of trying to save face in light of the incident and the unwanted attention that it brought. Then Kamoshida made his confession on stage for the school to witness.

The bald toad tried to stop his golden boy from damning himself in front of us and letting the whole school know what a true piece of human garbage he is, unworthy of any respect from us except him of course. Serves him right for protecting a career sex offender rapist for so long in the name of getting Shujin Academy to the nationals through the so-called hero's past achievements.

Killing Kamoshida's Shadow would have been akin to that British entertainer Jimmy Savile dying without ever facing any justice for his crimes while alive and in this case, I would have martyrised the pervert into being a late hero killed by criminal scum like he's Mitsuhiro Momota minus the respect he actually earned in his lifetime.

"You have no right to run from this!"

I spoke up amongst the herd in my emotional anger to Kamoshida himself when he said he was going to take his own life for dishonoring himself and I told him to quit running from the truth, telling him to face Lady Justice if he really wants to make up for his years of wrongdoing. Telling him that Shiho still lives despite having her life destroyed in his form of venting his rage.

He conceded to my point in a moment of clarity and thus he chooses to accept his current fate after the so-called king has begged his former subjects to call for the police to take him away. Taken away to live the rest of his life groveling for forgiveness from the public that now deems him a national disgrace and his Olympic achievements be forgotten in favor of his crimes against mankind including taking away Shiho's ability to live her life trauma-free from his human evil.

Seeing his life destroyed as punishment for destroying others' should have given me the cathartic release I wanted, knowing the halls of Shinjin Academy will be free from his reign of terror. To be able to walk the halls without having to deal with another minute of his ungodly arrogant presence.

Although a part of me feels relieved in bringing him down for Shiho and the others' sake… Another part of me felt depressed in the victory with the knowledge that the trauma he left behind won't magically dissipate into oblivion and knowing that all my inner demons didn't go down with the castle either hurts me more than I'm willing to comprehend.

Mishima and those other students would come to me and my friends to offer their apologies. At first, I felt so livid over it.

Barring Mishima whom spent the last two years as the guy's punching bag; those other bitches along with their ilk had spent years without ever having to encounter Kamoshida the way I have, bullying me for being different from them, spreading bullshit gossip about me and my friends to each other, doing fuck all like the staff when the abuse was happening and praising Kamoshida as a hero…

And all they have to say is 'We're sorry'? As if that'll undo all the times I've cried to myself when I'm alone because of you?

Then I thought about how these people were fortunate to have not met the monster in his lair and I wouldn't wish that on them, no matter how badly they speak of me. They're a byproduct of the environment that the uncaring principal has festered within his facility.

Shiho would have forgiven them in spite of everything they had said about her before the confession… I shouldn't let my own bitterness dictate my actions.

"No, it's okay. Same goes for me too… Besides, that's all in the past now."

I have accepted the apology from the two female students accompanying Mishima and I couldn't hold a grudge against the guy either since no matter what he could have done when Kamoshida called for a "stress reliever" that day, someone would have gotten subjected to his wrath. I just wished he could have grown a backbone for Shiho's sake.

We took a much-needed reprieve from the heart-pounding assembly meeting and I amusingly brought up Ryuji's dolphin in the group chat before explaining the story to the confused transfer student. Taking the time to remind him of the debt he owes me for getting him the money for his school trip fare when he spent his' on the cute dolphin toy for his mother.

A sweet memory I still cherish in spite of my teasing towards Ryuji and another thing to make me question on why exactly I fell out of touch with my friend from middle school other than maybe the fact we weren't in a life or death situation like how Ryuji started his friendship with the other guy. I wonder if Ryuji's either Lupin or Jigen in that dynamic.

The raven-haired student whom I've taken to speaking with more following Kamoshida's confession and he would eventually sell it off at some shady airsoft shop with a surely owner in Shibuya and getting 30,000 yen out of it which we decided to spend on a feed at a famous hotel buffet restaurant, being treated to absolutely divine foods. The kind that made me secretly wish Shiho was here to enjoy it with us.

I told the others about how the police are going to interview the high school regarding the case of Kamoshida when it attracted media attention and the group "allegedly" involved with it. The charge of heart being the talk of the school.

The fat bastard that had covered for his now-disgraced gym teacher always wanted Shujin Academy to be famous on the news and he finally got his wish; just not the way he wanted it. Karma's a real bitch, ain't it?

In addition to that, someone's put up a website dedicated to us named the 'Phantom Thieves Afficanardo Fansite' and the comments on the forum site were congratulating the group for bringing Kamoshida to justice. Seeing the comments really gave perspective on how much of a tyrant the guy was that they were attending the school in fear and I felt happy to have helped make such a difference for them as did my friends.

We feasted on the gorgeous foods and we all were enjoying it even with Morgana's objections to more beans or Ryuji's meaty explosion in my mouth comment that nearly made me swallow my food down wrong. All seemed well.

However, the snobbery of those social elites would soon soured my reception towards the restaurant and the others felt the same after their unpleasant experiences themselves. I take back what I said earlier; I'm glad Shiho wasn't here with us or else that snobbish woman accusing me of bumping into her will get a definitive answer from me if she tried to accuse her of doing it...

The experiences made us think about what we could do with the powers we have and how there's people out there within society who are suffering as much as Kamoshida's victims. Suffering under the heel of those who sought themselves untouchable by the law because of their positions of authority.

We discussed what our next course would be that'll shape our future from that day onwards… On that day, the Phantom Thieves of Hearts were officially formed with Joker as its unanimous designated leader by the rest of us founding members.

Our goals were clear: We will target criminals hiding in the shadows or in plain sight and make them confess to their crimes with their own mouths for every treasure we steal from them. Doing what the law should be doing instead of passively standing aside for the likes of Kamoshida or else the whole tragedy in April could have been easily avoided if the system did what it was originally designed to do.

I now finally had a place to belong. I'm as much an outcast as they are and it's probably the biggest reason why I've decided to stick with them from now on rather than go my separate ways once I had avenged Shiho.

Maybe this is how it should be…

Maybe this has always been my destiny and my first meeting with the transfer student is the beginning of that journey…

Or maybe I'm just trying to cope with everything I've been through and he happens to be the most convenient person around to latch myself onto like he's the hero of a story while I'm one of many characters who'll aid him in his long journey...


Author's Notes: I got bitten by the story bug when I thought about the Persona 5 series and Ann specifically which promoted me to write this.

I feel like Ann is a bit of an under-appreciated character within the whole of Persona 5/Persona 5 Post-Kamoshida Arc compared to the likes of Futaba and Makoto whom the latter I felt is pretty overrated despite my liking of the character. If Haru didn't exist, I'd say Ann gets the narrative short-end of the stick.

Like Ryuji, the rest of Persona 5's story doesn't really follow up on the nuances of the character found in the Kamoshida Arc and sort of simplified to a set character trait with her being the beautiful kind-hearted blonde used for fanservice-related gags outside of her Confidant rather than building upon the Ann we saw in said arc. I feel like Ann and Ryuji were at their best portrayal-wise in the first palace versus onwards.

Additionally, I feel like the Kamoshida Arc feels as though it came from a darker version of Persona 5 more akin to Catherine and Persona 3 tone-wise while the rest of Vanilla Persona 5's story feels more like they're from a separate game because how undercooked the other antagonists are in terms of narrative execution compared to Kamoshida and his crimes. As if they were conceived after the Sega buyout and the Kamoshida Arc was conceived before the buyout with how hard-hitting it is in regards to tackling a real world issue.

Anyhow, this story is basically my take on what if Kamoshida Arc Ann hadn't really gone away after the first palace and re-contextualise the post-Kamoshida Arc Ann scenes with that thought through her perspective. The wound in her heart the main game never really touches on again.

Hope I managed to still capture Ann's kind-heartedness and not make her come off as too bitter nor too self-loathing with what I've written here. Wanting to keep the fundamentals of who she is from canon but showing what we never saw or witnessed from official media. Think like how Ryuji must have been thinking during the encounter with the Lock Keeper for the fifth Jail in Persona 5: Strikers as someone coming from a similar background as that Jail's Monarch.

Depending on the responses, I'll might make more chapters of this in the future but for now; hope you enjoy this story based on one of the four founding members of the Phantom Thieves. I'll see you all another time.