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Later that day, the five Phantom Thieves walked up to a small apartment complex. They stayed hidden in an alleyway in order to not be seen. Ryuji got out his phone and opened the Nav, grumbling in frustration.
"This is the shittiest luck ever. Somebody we are trying to help lives with the guy that's trying to throw us in jail!" Ryuji complained. Morgana poked his head out of Akira's bag and glared at the blond boy.
"Quiet down, Ryuji! Your yelling will probably be our undoing long before Akechi is," the cat said with annoyance. Ryuji complied, putting his head down in unspoken frustration. The subway ride to this part of the city had left the thieves with nothing to do except think. The things they all had thought about had one thing in common, Sayori.
Ann had been thinking about nothing other than her own guilt. In Shiho's absence from the school, she had found comfort in the girl that sat next to her. Clearly, however, she hadn't made much of an effort to show it. Sayori had fallen into the same sadness that Shiho had. Ann resolved that if they managed to fix this, she would try harder to become better friends with Sayori. It was, after all, very easy to find the recently hired librarian's aid.
Ryuji, for the most part, was very angry with anyone he thought could be remotely responsible for Sayori's depression. The list included Kamoshida, Goro Akechi, and surprisingly, himself. Whenever he saw the girl in public, he made it a point to talk with her a little bit. Walking her to class on her first day, learning that Kamoshida had already tried to attempt one of his dirty tricks on her, had made him determined to keep contact with her. But talking with her hadn't been enough, and now she had a Palace. They would fix this, no matter what it took.
Yusuke couldn't help but think of the painting he had made with Sayori's inspiration. Had it been more than homesickness he had been sensing as he had made that painting? She was one of the nicest people he had met in a long time, and it hurt him to ponder how much pain she must be in on a daily basis. Yusuke aspired to see every detail of the girl's Palace, he wanted to know of all the hardships she faced everyday.
Morgana and Akira were thinking similar thoughts. What would her Palace be like? Neither of them knew much about Sayori, despite being friends with her. What could they expect from a place that reflected the distortions in her heart? They both knew they would be thinking more personal thoughts later, but for now a strategic state of mind was more helpful.
"So, Sayori and Goro Akechi's house are the obvious words to put into the Nav, right?" Ann spoke hesitantly. As she spoke, the MetaNav confirmed this. Now came the more difficult part.
"What would she distort Goro Akechi's apartment into being?" Yusuke pondered, deep in thought.
"How about a prison?" Ryuji asked, only for the word to be rejected by the app.
"That's definitely not right. From the conversations I've had with Sayori, she's never spoken poorly of Akechi. She wouldn't see the home he offered to her as a place of such misery," Yusuke replied.
"Well, maybe a doctor's office? Like, she sees it as a place where she can heal and get better?" Ann suggested. This too, was denied.
As the rest of the thieves spouted various possibilities for a distortion, Akira thought back towards the Phan-Site post. One line in particular stood out to him.
"She's always talking about some school festival she wanted to go to and how she wanted to make everyone happy with her performance."
Could that be it? A festival? But, it's not a very strong connection to her depression...
He decided to give it a shot regardless.
"Festival," Akira said, unsure of himself. However, the Nav registered it, shocking and relieving everybody. The app began its work of sending the Phantom Thieves into the Metaverse.
On the outside, Sayori's Palace looked almost underwhelming. In place of the apartment was a much larger school building, with giant double doors and a banner hanging above it. On the banner written in fancy holographic lettering was the announcement FESTIVAL TODAY, TOMORROW, AND EVERYDAY! DON'T FORGET TO BE HAPPY! The Phantom Thieves were surprised that her palace was so plain, but even more surprised to see their clothes not change, even as they walked up to the entrance.
"You'd think there would be more guards at the front," Ann commented. They all pushed open the doors and stepped in. They all stepped back in shock as the room revealed its true form. Gone was the appearance of a school, replaced with a giant open field. Glowing stands with games, snacks and various sideshows stretched on for miles and miles in every direction. People in elaborate outfits strolled calmly through the fairgrounds, enjoying themselves at every turn. Dancers of all sorts performed on stages, while musicians filled the air with wondrous melodies.
The thieves were astounded to find that if they peered up, they saw nothing but the clear night sky above them. Beyond the stands was the most impressive sight of all, a massive, stadium-sized auditorium that shone a bright neon gold. On the top of the stadium lie hundreds of loudspeakers, blaring complex piano music through the night air. Judging by how both Kamoshida's and Madarame's palaces were laid out, the thieves made the assumption that the auditorium was to be their most important destination.
The thieves, still in their casual wear, began to scope out this shadow-filled festival. Ryuji and Ann were astounded by how delicious the food looked, while Yusuke found himself fascinated by various independent art pieces for sale. He found himself disappointed at the realization that anything he brought out of the palace would most likely disappear. However, beyond the exciting amusements, they also saw plenty of disturbing sights.
"Is that… a gallows?" Yusuke asked, horrified. The gallows was sitting in the middle of the field, facing the thieves as they strolled closer to the auditorium. It had a red noose hanging down from it, and it seemingly had no reason to be there.. The thieves were all thankful not to see anybody actually be hung.
They continued onward past the gallows and towards the auditorium. Along the way, they saw someone who looked somewhat like Sayori, but just a bit different. This girl had a different shade of hair color, and a sour expression on her face, not matching her ridiculous outfit in the slightest. Her hair was done in silly pigtails, and she was wearing a dress more fit for a little girl than a teenager. It was this visual similarity that inspired Ryuji to open his mouth.
"Yo, Matsu-chan!" He shouted at the girl. Morgana was infuriated.
"You idiot! That's not Sayori! Even if she was, she's still a shadow!" He growled through his teeth.
The girl turned towards the thieves upon hearing Ryuji's outburst, puzzled. "Matsu-chan? Buddy, you must have the wrong girl." She adjusted her hair with a smug look on her face. "Besides, it's poor manners for guests to shout like that."
"Guests?" Ryuji asked in shock. "Is she for real?! For somebody dressed as a cute little girl, you'd think she would be more affected by the gallows than poor manners."
"I'm not cute!" The girl shouted as clenched her fists in rage. The others all jumped in surprise, waiting for her to start attacking them. Instead she merely sighed in annoyance and glared at them.
"The name's Natsuki. I'm surprised you all got lost so quickly. It's my job to make sure everyone here for the festival gets to see the performance. You are here for the festival, aren't you? Come along, now." Natsuki didn't wait for a reply and stalked off, going back the way she came. The thieves all looked at each other, wondering if it was truly the best idea to follow the girl. Natsuki looked back towards them and motioned for them to follow her.
"We don't have any other leads. Nobody here seems hostile towards us right now, so we should just go along with it and hope for the best," Akira finally decided. The thieves all nodded in agreement. They all began to trail behind the girl. All of them couldn't help but think how non-hostile this place was. But at the same time, they remembered this was Sayori's Palace they were in.
Natsuki suddenly halted in her tracks and groaned in frustration. "You have got to be kidding me. She better not have gone to the auditorium by herself! That edgy—"
"Natsuki! I will apologize for being late when you learn to mind what you say! I was simply making sure the rest of the decorations were ready," a new voice spoke out, belonging to a girl coming from the direction everyone else was heading towards. This girl had long purple hair, and wore an outfit somehow more ridiculous than Natsuki's. Taking a moment to dust off the gaudy dress she wore, the girl glared at Natsuki.
"Well, that's still not fair, Yuri! The others said there was going to be a surprise in there, and you get a free pass to spoil it just because you procrastinated!" Natsuki stomped her foot childishly.
"As always, you continue to make assumptions that could not be farther from the truth, Natsuki! I did not step foot in the auditorium! I was merely decorating the entrance hallway of it. What were you doing? Being rude and scaring people away from something that we worked so hard on!" Yuri said this with a superior tone of voice.
Natsuki angrily growled. "Now look who is making assumptions! They were the ones being rude! I was just doing my job."
The two girls, now thoroughly at each other's throats, didn't notice as Akira gestured for his group to keep moving. The "guests" were now sure of where they had to go to find Sayori's shadow.
"Now that we know what we are looking for, we should try to be more stealthy," Morgana said. The others all nodded in agreement and slowed their pace slightly.
True to her word, Yuri had indeed decorated the interior of the auditorium, though what atmosphere she was trying to convey was questionable. The dim natural lighting was harshly contrasted by lanterns giving off a maroon glow. Large framed poems with opulent frames hung from the walls. At first they seemed innocent enough, but slowing down to read them revealed horrifying contents.
"None of these poems have names on them. You don't think Sayori wrote them all, do you?" Ann asked sadly.
"Let's hope not," Akira replied as they continued down the hall, which seemed to stretch on forever through the darkness.
Finally, the group came across a set of glass double doors, giving them a view into the interior. Above it was another banner. This way to the auditorium! Admission must be purchased with a smile!
"Admission?!" Ryuji asked angrily. He kicked the door angrily.
"Be quiet. We'll sneak in anyway," Morgana reminded him in frustration. Suddenly, footsteps could be heard coming towards them. Akira gestured for them to hide behind a nearby table, which was elaborately decorated with food.
"You'd think our club president would be kind enough to help us look for these runaways. Why does she have to be such a jerk?" Natsuki grumbled as she stomped at the floor.
"Natsuki, it might be beneficial to be more open-minded. She's just practicing, as usual. This dedication is quite admirable," Yuri said this with a calmer attitude than before.
The two girls continued to idly chat as they passed by the thieves' hiding place. When they were gone, Ryuji looked at everyone excitedly.
"This club president they are talking about has to be Sayori, right? That must mean we're gettin' close," he deduced. Everyone else got out of the hiding place and looked at the auditorium entrance doors. They decided that they would need a new route to get in.
"God, that sucked!" Ryuji exclaimed as the thieves entered through a window on the roof. The amount of climbing required to get there was excruciating, but it was much better than being caught by palace security.
The thieves snuck down a hallway, looking out for any signs of any important rooms in the area. There was a door marked "Backstage."
"Let's take a look," Akira whispered.
Everyone nodded and crept over. Slipping through the door, they silently made their way backstage. As they peered behind the large pink curtain, they were frozen in shock and fright.
"So that's why it's been so empty," Morgana concluded. "They all came to see the performance."
Every seat was filled as far as they could see with shadows. Above them they could make out balconies seated with even more. Everyone had their eyes on the stage, which had a very familiar face on it. The shadow of their friend had a different uniform on than they were used to. Her now yellow eyes scanned a piece of paper with a sad smile on her face. The constant piano music playing from the speakers seemed to pause as if waiting on something.
"Sayori…" The group of thieves all spoke quietly. However, they weren't quiet enough. The girl looked up from her paper and let out a surprised gasp. It was at that moment that the Phantom Thieves felt their clothes finally change.
Goro Akechi frowned as he looked at the Phansite posting for seemingly (and possibly) the one-hundredth time. He and Sae had gone over it so much looking for clues that he could probably recite it if he wanted to. They had been unable to track down the person who had made the post, which frustrated the young detective to no end.
How could some shitty school-child make an untraceable internet post!?
Slowly but surely, Goro had come to a risky decision. With no other option to fix this, the detective knew one thing. The thought had been creeping around in the back of his mind ever since he first laid eyes on the post, but now he was sure. He had to see it for himself.
He had sent Sayori out with a grocery list and cash only an hour ago. This would buy him more than enough time. The detective had spent the time since then trying to reason with himself that he could figure something else out. After all, there was a high chance the plans he had already paved with people's lives would be put to waste if he messed up.
But it seemed the highly irrational part of his mind had dismissed this as unimportant. He hadn't been contacted with a new job in awhile anyway. Sayori needed help right now. It seemed with this final thought, that he was once again resolute. Exiting the tab that had been kept open for days, Goro went to the familiar app.
"Sayori," he spoke quietly. The detective cringed as a hit was confirmed. His inner conflict seemed to drown out the sound of the door knob turning. After studying the post for the past few days, the detective had already concluded what the other two words must be. "Goro Akechi's apartment, festival," he finished with a sad sigh. The Meta-Nav registered a hit, and he began his travel into despair.
Sayori struggled with the bags she was holding. As always, she couldn't seem to get the proper hold on the bags, making it very easy to drop them. It didn't help that she had recently been feeling more and more like trash. So, when Goro had asked her to go shopping for him, she leapt at the chance to be useful.
Finally arriving at the apartment door, she carefully set the bags down so she could open the door. On the other side she could hear her room mate blearily say her name. This once again made her heat sink. Forcing a smile onto her face, she carefully twisted the knob. As she started to push open the door, she could barely make out Goro saying something else.
"Festiv- Huh?" Sayori said in confusion. A sudden headache came over her as she made a shaky attempt to enter the apartment. In front of her she could see the back of Goro's head, who didn't seem to notice her. Stepping inside, she stumbled and tripped as the scenery around her changed.
When Sayori regained her bearings, she heard a door in front of her slam shut. Opening her eyes, she nearly screamed. Where was she? What had even happened? And more importantly, where had her roommate gone?
It's good to be back! I hope you guys like this chapter. We put a lot of effort into making it after our splendid vacation finished up. We'll be back on our regular schedule again. Anyway, please read, review, and we will see you next time!