April 25th, 20XX
He walked to school, ignoring the gymnast shadowing him a few meters behind. Lavenza wasn't that bad. For him at least, and it's not like it was his idea, right?
And never did get his jacket back. I'll ask about uniform modifications. I'd look cool with a scarf.
Eh, Kasumi probably had it in her bag either way, it'd be fine.
"You want to what?" The student council president looked at him incredulously.
"I said I want a uniform scarf. I can wear that instead of a jacket, right?"
"It's the middle of spring, and you want to wear a scarf?"
"I mean, why not? Ooh, on second thought, can I have a badass long-coat instead?" He rolled some dice. Everyone knows that long-coats make you badass.
"...Get out of my office." She rubbed her temple frustratedly.
"But-"
"Now!"
You could modify your uniform, apparently, but you had to do it yourself, plus, it had to have the school emblem. And the pajama pants were required.
I can work with that.
He leaned in the fashion club's room. Apparently, it was a new club as well. There seemed to be a lot of those after the last year.
"Excuse me, are there any Frenchies here? I'm trying to modify my uniform."
There were more than a few busy members, but one of them stood up. He had dyed blond hair. Like, white people blonde, not bleach blond.
"Hello, Amamiya-san." He didn't look enamored, more formal.
"Oh thank god. I was worried you guys would be fangirls." Maybe it was because they had something to do with their time. He breathed a sigh of relief.
"About that-"
Son of a bitch.
"-You hang around with the model, right?"
"Ann? I didn't think anyone around here knew."
"The fashion club prides itself on the knowledge we have of our subject material. Some of us look up to her, you could say. More like, we'd like to work with her, but that would be rude to ask. I know the students don't treat her well."
"You sound like a stalker."
"He's got a point, prez." Other club members who were organizing clothes racks and such loudly agreed.
"Ouch. Well, I was wondering, do you work with her?"
"Huh?"
"Well, are you a model as well? You've got the figure for it." Ren felt vaguely creeped out as he started checking him out.
"You're scaring him, prez."
More clear agreements. The president shook himself out of it and turned back to Ren.
"You'd like to modify your uniform, right? I think we can work something out, you'll just have to model for us." The club members turned toward him with calculating looks.
"That might be the first good idea you've ever had, prez."
God, was everyone here part of a hive mind, or is he just a butt-monkey?
"Bartender!"
"Yakuza!"
"Maid!"
"Samurai-"
"Eh, full stop, what was that last one?"
"Finally, someone who gets it! Samurai are the coolest, right?"
He gave them the measurements. More like they took them before he could blink, shoved him on a podium in the middle of the room, and started looking through their costumes.
"Who are you guys, anyway?"
"I'm the apprentice of the master fashion designer, Andre Laurent-"
"Prez, you only met him once."
"Details, bah. I'm Taro Tanaka, the president of the fashion club, as you may have heard."
"I'm Ren Amamiya."
"Oh, we know."
"Prez, stalker."
"Whatever! This is my vice president, Hanako Yamada" She waved to him with her elbow on the table.
"A pleasure."
Yep, never remembering those names. Unless they're confidants, then they're important.
"Minato did the same stuff you're doing." He ignored Minatos. Must have too much time on his hands. What, not caring about people that weren't his social links?
"No, he got a special uniform from a blond." Then he disappeared. Why am I getting called gay by a ghost? Logic need not apply to bastards.
"Alright, Amamiya-san. Please try this on." He held out a samurai costume and gestured to a partition. "I'll put a few guys on that long-coat. It may have some extra stuff though."
Thank you, Jack Frost.
Holding badass poses for photos can tire out your arms.
No problem, hee-ho!
Freezing his body did come in handy. Free air-con, too.
"Okay, now do 'triumphant warrior at the end of a battle royale'."
"Like in that movie?" He held up three fingers. The girl shook her head.
"No, like you've just fought your way out of an assassination attempt."
"Oddly specific. Don't try to pull a knife on me, you'll get exactly that." She chuckled and kept snapping photos, not knowing he meant it literally.
"Do you think we should get him a yellow wig and shades?"
He'd put on the bartender uniform, but they looked at him like there was something missing.
"We can't hide his hair, that'd be a disgrace to the art!"
"Alright, alright. Maybe the shades? His eyes are dull. Contacts?"
Ren fumbled in his pocket for nothing, while subtly summoning Jack Frost behind the partition.
"Wait, I've got a pair right…" He faked putting in contacts and turned back to them. "Here."
"Wow! Where'd you get yellow that bright? Usually, we just get a watered-down brown result."
"Eh, they were on sale. Limited edition, they don't make them anymore."
"Damn. I think we could use some."
You have no idea.
"Language, prez." Called most of the club members absentmindedly.
"Oh, come on!"
You'd think they were babysitting.
"This good?" They made him wrap bandages around his chest and hung a ripped blazer over him shirtless. They switched him into a pair of cut off uniform pants.
"I'm really liking the Sakamoto vibe."
"Eh, Ryuji's not that bad."
"Oh man, you should have seen him before the Student Council President got to him, right after Kamoshida- Well, that's not my place to tell, sorry."
"Don't worry about it-"
"Ren!" Kasumi slammed the door open. She looked actually angry for once. Or maybe just tired from running around by the look of it.
"The gymnast? Oh, could the two of you do a duo shoot?"
Whoever this guy is, I'm going to murder him.
She noticed his current attire, flushed red, and ducked out the door for a moment.
"Actually, I can wait, just…"
"What's her deal?" Asked the prez before turning back to his camera.
"I dunno."
The female club members all shared a look.
"Well, Amamiya-san, it was nice working with you." The prez handed him a folded up coat, with the Shujin logo emblazoned on its breast pocket.
"Likewise."
"Now, go deal with that friend of yours. I think she's still out there."
"She is? Well…" Ren started longing for the comfort of the window. Unfortunately, that room didn't have any, most likely to prevent peeping. He looked up at the ceiling panels while pulling on his new jacket.
"Those are movable, right?"
"The ceiling panels? I believe so- Ah, is that one of your transport vectors?"
"Haven't tried it before, might as well." Ren climbed up a stack of boxes in the corner, just as Kasumi walked back in the room, looking at the time.
"Ren-" He shut the panel and started crawling. Arsene gave him night vision, who knew? Might just be the glowing yellow eyes. Wait…
"Hey, prez? Since when did we have this Jack Frost doll?"
"Huh. Dunno. Maybe one of the first years brought it."
The Persona knew what was good for it and stayed completely still and perfectly visible. Might have been the demon in it.
They didn't notice the redhead also climb into the ceiling behind them.
Ren trudged along the tiles, trying to remember where an empty room was. He felt like he'd been crawling for a while, trying to get away from his starting point. He carefully lifted up one of the ceiling tiles.
The loud sound of showers running and girls giggling. He silently slammed it shut again, his face lit up scarlet.
Girls changing room. Do not remember. Will not remember. Will not tell Mishima exactly how to get there.
He kept crawling, even more silently than before, seeing a light at the end of the tunnel. More likely just a vent to the outside. He felt a tug on his jacket. Kasumi had followed him, because why wouldn't she.
"Ren, are we going to talk?" He sighed and pulled himself into a careful sitting position. Those panels weren't the strongest.
"Really? Here?"
"Please?"
"...Fine. What do you want to talk about?"
"What's the deal with you and that girl?" This crush or whatever it is is getting annoying.
"I didn't expect her to do whatever she did that pissed you off."
"I wasn't-"
"You expect me to not lie to you. Common courtesy." She gulped.
"Right. Are you two a… couple?"
"We're friends. She's new around here, so she doesn't quite get all of the mannerisms."
"That sounds like an excuse." Ren felt a twinge of annoyance.
"Why do you care?"
"I'm just worried about you-"
"I've known you for what, two weeks? We're friends, I know, but I don't think you know me that well." Where is this dedication coming from?
"Exactly, we're friends! I don't want anything bad to happen to you! My sister-" She clammed up suddenly.
"Seems like we're both hiding something, huh?" He glared lightly at her, while she turned away.
"It's- Nothing."
"Okay."
"...Really?"
"If it's not my business, it's not my business. I'm not going to pry into your personal life and drudge up something you hate talking about."
"Thank you-"
"You don't seem to give me the same respect. Listen. I like you a lot. We're friends. That's the idea. There are some things about my personal life that I can't tell you about."
"But what about her?"
"She knows some things that you won't understand. And I'm serious about this, you shouldn't know."
"But I want to know!" She grabbed the lapels of his jacket. He carefully removed her hands. "I want to understand you!"
"You can't. Not right now." She sat back and stared at her shoes. "We might be able to talk about this again in a while. But not today. I'm sorry."
"Alright. I'll... leave you alone from now on."
"No, not that. We're still friends, right? But as my friend, you have to respect this."
"Okay…"
Thou shalt be blessed when creating Personae of the Faith Arcana.
Thou hast reversed the bond of the Faith Arcana. Only with care may it be set right.
Hey, that's a new combo. I might have to leave this one as-is for now.
"Now let's get out of here." I don't want to leave Jack Frost down there any longer than I need to.
He held her tightly as he dropped down the side of the building, before breaking the Persona. It wasn't that far, it was plausible. It was later after school, so he would probably be fine.
"I'll… see you later." Kasumi wiped her face and walked off. Ren felt like a bastard. He sat against the wall and slid down. Mishima walked around a corner.
"Wait, let me guess. You're thinking, "What kind of man am I, to make a girl cry."
"Fuck off, Izaya."
"Hey, I resent that! I like the coat though."
"Wait 'till you see the photos." He laughed with a smudge of tears in his eyes.
"From the fashion club? The prez is one of my best customers, something like knowing the current trends. He sends them to me before anyone else."
"You're some kind of evil overlord, ain't ya?"
"Not quite, in fact, I prefer the term 'optimization' over 'world domination'."
"Whatever. How'd you know I was here?"
"He said you climbed in the ceiling. This is the most remote vent exit, plus, closest to the club room. Simple deduction."
"Then I'm the Lupin to your Holmes, huh?"
"I wouldn't mind the comparison. Wanna talk about it?" Ren looked at him strangely.
"You're breaking character."
"I can't be whiny about my problems all the time, right?" He pulled a pair of drinks out of his bag and handed one to Ren. He pulled the tab, took a big gulp, and started rambling.
"So there's this girl."
"Yoshizawa."
"Other girl."
"The blonde with a thing for blue."
"Yep."
"Damn. And you're tapping that?"
"You wanna die?"
"Joking, joking. Go on."
"We were at the movies with some friends."
"Ah, so that's where the fivesome rumors were coming from…"
"Not even close, obviously. The blonde," he felt that using vague terms might be better, "Was leaning up on me during the show. She doesn't quite get Japanese mannerisms."
"Ah. I figured that kind of thing transcended culture." Shit, that's a fair point.
"She's a bit of an idiot."
"Okay, I get it. And now Yoshizawa is pissed about that?"
"Yep."
"You know, there are worse problems to have than multiple women fawning over you."
"You sound like that guy whose ass I'm going to kick."
"Alright, alright. Just remember to send me a video, yeah? Of the ass-kicking, I don't want any sex tapes."
"Whatever man. Thanks. I'll talk to you later."
"No problem. But as a rule of thumb, you don't make women cry."
"Like you know anything about women."
"Hey!"
Wait, did I summon a Persona in the real world?
April 26th, 20XX
Ren heard a commotion outside the classroom, Wednesday afternoon, and stood up to get a better look.
Girl fight. Probably better to not get involved, they fight dirty. He resolved to jump out the window at the first opportunity, to avoid the crowd of cell phones that would inevitably show up.
"You can't talk about senpai like that!" She tackled the other girl, pulling her hair. The other girl, the one in gym clothes, gasped and pushed her off.
"You're a damn third year! Why are you calling Ren that?"
Wait, what? He ran out the door, sizing up the situation, and tried to drag the bleeding girl away.
"What the hell is wrong with you?" He turned his back to her, and tried to assess the damage. Scratched arms, face, broken nails… She'd live.
"Oh, senpai!" He felt someone try to hug him from behind.
"Get off me!" He tried to pick up the other girl to take her to the nurses office.
Did… Did she seriously just bite her? The girl growled as she spit out blood that was not her own.
"She doesn't get how great you are, senpai! She doesn't deserve to be held by you."
"What the fuck! Someone get a damn teacher!" He tried to shield the girl, who now had a streak of blood running down her leg. It only then registered who he was holding.
Shiho?
He looked around. Everyone was just standing there, either holding out their phone like robots or looking gleeful. Their eyes were wide, wider than eyes ought to be, and their smiles were such that if you held them for longer than a few seconds they'd become rictus grins.
"Senpai!" The girl from earlier wrapped her arms around his leg and nuzzled her face into his thigh.
"What the hell is this!" He kicked himself out of her grasp, noticing the crowd's change.
Their smiles remained, but their stares seemed to drop below freezing, and their fingers started twitching like insect legs. Ren threw his arm under Shiho's legs and bolted, carrying her bridal-style past everyone because holy shit this was all too weird and he didn't wanna get torn apart and eaten like that guy from Day of the Dead.
His eyes flashed yellow as he ran like the wind, and by the time he found it in himself to stop, he and Shiho were basically on the other end of the school.
"Sorry, Ren..."
"What even happened!?"
"We were just talking, and I mentioned you, and everyone just turned towards me, it's the weirdest thing. You can put me down."
"You're bleeding! Your leg!" He rounded a corner and slowed down.
"I'm an athlete, I'll walk it off." He carefully turned her so she could stand up. She winced, standing on her free leg.
"You sure?"
"I'm tougher than I look," she said with a smile. "I'll be okay getting there on my own."
"Okay, no. Okay? That just isn't right. Wait a sec. I oughta-"
"Ren, it's fine-"
"No, it's not!" Ren ran his hands through his hair, "Nothing about this is! I'm taking you to the nurse's."
"I don't wanna trouble you."
"No, it's to make sure you're safe. The nurse's office is close enough to the student council, and I'm going there anyway."
"What - what's this about student council, all of a sudden?"
"I'll talk to Niijima. See if she can help me do something about this before things get even weirder. At least lemme do that much for you."
It took a while for her to respond. She was weirdly hesitant about it when she did. "Okay."
"You brought this on yourself, Amamiya-san."
"What the hell is that supposed to mean!" He damn near slammed his hands on her table. Ryuji stepped forward, but hesitated, seeing that the president wasn't fazed.
"You've let these rumors fester, like a cancerous growth. Playing your games with the students, fighting in clear view of the school, drawing as much attention to yourself as possible. It's a wonder this didn't blow up sooner."
"This isn't a god damn book report! Aren't you concerned about this? A girl was attacked because she said my name! That's all! Isn't that something you should do about that?"
"I'll see about appropriate punishment for her. That's all I can do."
"Appropriate punishment? So what, suspension?"
"Detention." He wasn't quite sure if he heard that right, as his vision blurred red.
"...Detention."
"It's the best I can offer you." She was trying to… appease him. His fists clenched on their own.
"Shiho is going to have a scar on her leg where that girl bit her. And she didn't show any remorse, that- She just kept on coming!"
"I'll have the teachers speak with her, to verify-"
"Verify- VERIFY? CHECK THE DAMN NURSE'S OFFICE, THAT'S ALL THE VERI-"
"Stop. Now."
"Fuck you. This happens again, or god forbid, happens again, and I can't stop it, I'm not going to hold back."
"Amamiya-san, I must ask you to control yourself."
"How about you control your fucking school, Niijima. How about that, huh? The students don't seem to respect your authority very much. God knows I don't, when the only thing you actually deal with is little shits who complain to mommy and daddy." She stood up, took a breath, and slapped him. Not hard, but hard enough to get the message across.
"Might I remind you, Amamiya-san. You are on criminal probation. You will not speak to me in my school-"
"See, you're just like them! You're so damn focused on Shujin- It's just a school! You get a little bit of authority, and think you can do whatever you want!"
Bzzt.
"Are you any different?" It was quickly escalating into a shouting match, and even Ryuji, who would be considered brave, would have questioned getting between the two. So he did.
"Of course I am, I'm worse! I shouldn't be the damned standard! That's the only reason I'm here, I was too shitty to stay home, and I wasn't shitty to go to prison!"
Bzzt.
"Stop-"
"No, it isn't news to me, Makoto Niijima, that I'm not any fucking different!"
Bzzt.
In the silence that followed, there was only a small voice.
"Beginning navigation."
The walls were lined with lead, covered in all assortments of metal panels that'd been shoddily bolted on top of each other. The windows had bars that were so close together that barely any light came through. The courtyard outside had grown barren, the railings cracked, and the walkway covers losing a few tiles. The sky was a deep, neon blue, so bright, and piercing, and flickery- He'd probably blind himself if he stared at it for too long.
"Oh, for fucks sake, how did we end up here?"
"What is- Ulgh…" The president nearly fell over, from the sudden wave of nausea.
"What is this place?" Ryuji asked, while kneeling on the ground, trying to keep himself from retching.
"Shit. I wished I wouldn't have to explain this part of my life…" Ren mumbled, before screaming in frustration. His clothes quickly burnt into their metaverse form.
"What the hell?" Ryuji asked, while the president recovered from her nausea.
"I'm thinking the exact same thing." He looked over at the locked door. "How are we going to get out of here?"
"Wh-what is here!?" He nonchalantly looked over at the president, who he was screaming at moments before.
"Sit down, shut up."
"Excuse me?" She said sharply.
"To put it simply, you are not in charge right now, Makoto Niijima." He tore off his mask, summoning the demonic Arsene behind him. Both of them flinched wildly. "We are in the realm of cognition, formed through the distorted beliefs, desires, whatever, of whoever the owner of the distortion is." He tapped his temple and closed his eyes. "And I'm thinking that's you."
"So we're inside an alternate dimension, formed by thought, that looks different depending on whose thoughts are used."
"Got it in one." Ryuji just looked between them, seeming plain confused.
"That's ridiculous!"
"Too bad for you. If you can't handle a little weirdness- Well, it's going to get a whole lot weirder."
"And this place can't be formed from my cognition, that would be preposterous!"
"Why, because it's an alternate dimension, or are you too perfect to be wrong about the world?"
"I'm not- You must have something wrong!"
"Riddle me this, Makoto Niijima. We are in the student council room. The view from the window is the same, albeit very different, and the hallway looks the same. Now, why does the door have bars on it?"
"What?"
"If you think you're so in charge, why don't you have keys?"
"Because- I don't know, this whole thing is just insane! You did something, like- poisoned the drinking water! I must be hallucinating, there's no other solution."
"I think you don't believe that. You believe what's happening right now, but you can't handle the implications." Ren could swear he felt something crack in the air.
"No!"
"You feel trapped in Shujin Academy." It clicked for him. "You're stuck. No one respects you, but they expect you to take responsibility."
"I don't- I have to do this, it's what my sister did!"
"Don't convince me, convince yourself." He gestured to a festering cloud gathering in her usual seat, that was turning into an exact copy of her. Yellow eyes, black aura, the whole nine yards.
"...another me?"
"Well, obviously. I'm a smart girl, I'm a good girl." The shadow said, smiling. "I do what my sister did, because I don't want to disappoint her. I do what the adults tell me to do, because I don't want to disappoint her. I do what everyone expects me to do-"
"Shut up!" Crack.
"Why? I'm you. Is this new information? I thought I knew everything."
"I don't know everything, no one does."
"Sure. But it sure does feel like that sometimes, doesn't it? I'm sure my sister does. She's exactly who I should be when I grow up."
"But I- I don't want to be just like her!"
"Then why do I do everything she did?"
"Because that's what I'm supposed to do!"
"Says who? Who determines your path in life?"
"What- Me, of course! No one else!"
"I don't believe that, and I know I don't believe that either. A good girl always follows the example. She sets an example for others where she walks, like a golden touch. She focuses on schoolwork, with no time for boys or socializing. She's not a whore, she's a perfect madonna." The shadow said this in a completely calm, not at all creepy facade.
"That's not what I think-"
"In truth, I think I'm jealous of Amamiya-san. He's more locked up than I am, but gets away with breaking out of the boxes we've put him in. Whenever I step out of line, which I rarely do, I'm stamped right back into place. That's what it takes to be a good girl. That's what it takes to be just like Sae Niijima."
"I don't want to be just like my sister!" He noticed the bars on the door crack slightly.
"Then what do you want? Are you going to let everyone kick you down?"
"No!"
"Then what do you want?"
"I want-" Blue aura started collecting around her eyes. He shielded his eyes.
"Take what you want with your own will!" The shadow said forcefully, as it started melting into light.
"I WANT TO BE FREE!"
An iron mask formed on her face, like the shielding of a knight, without the rest of the helmet. She tore it off, spraying blood across the room. Ren briefly wondered if he had that much blood the last time he took off a band-aid.
Her persona formed below her, taking the form of… a spiked motorbike.
Badass.
Ren noticed Ryuji staring dumbly at the scene, and pulled him out of the way, right in time for the girl to rev the engines.
"Johanna! Full-" Cowling? "THROTTLE!" The bike lit up, and slammed through the door, shattering it into barbs, impaling them into the opposite wall. The rest of it smushed a passing Miss-Chouno-shaped shadow. She turned and braked. She smiled at him, as he carried Ryuji over his shoulders. He barely even protested. Ren decided to let his brain catch up.
"Coming?"
He swung a leg over the bike and settled into it. "Does this thing come with seatbelts?"
Evidently, it did not, and barely had time to wrap one arm around her stomach before she bolted down the hallway, flying through any shadow that dared stay in her way. Most of them were teacher shaped.
Then they got to the cafeteria. That got them to stop.
"Oh my God..." muttered Makoto.
Shujin, being a relatively small school, didn't have a particularly roomy cafeteria. Dozens could fit in at a time, which wasn't much of a problem at all, since the school had a spacious courtyard and classrooms for other students to convene whenever lunch started.
But somehow, someway, Ren and Makoto could see through the windows that more than a hundred students had crammed themselves in. Every single golden eye was locked on the two of them. They held no expression and kept their hands pressed against the glass, their mouths were just hard lines that had the barest hints of lips.
"Brains?" Ren couldn't help quipping.
"Join us..." Murmured the crowd. Ren noticed a certain air of anticipation starting to coalesce in the room.
"Niijima, start the engines."
"What? Those are students... Right?"
"Join us..." The air grew thicker.
"GO!"
"JOIN US, JOIN US!" The horde started rushing for the doors, like a wave, as they took off. They didn't even think to break down the windows, though they easily could have. They just pushed and stomped and piled over each other at the door, chomping at the bike and dragging themselves in waves, running to catch up and shouting in unison-
"JOIN US JOIN US JOIN US JOIN US JOIN US-"
"Front door, front door!"
They managed to turn into the front entrance, as a tsunami of shadow corpses piled behind them. They shot out the door, flying over the barbed wire wall, straight into an alley.
The engine shuttered to a stop, as the Persona dissolved beneath them. They fell into a pile.
"...Huh." Ren stared up at the sky. "Looks like I've got a new teammate."
"What?"
"This is my extracurricular. I go in people's heads and make them feel better about themselves."
"...I don't see why not." She looked at the neon-blue above them. Makoto's hands were trembling. "I've never felt so… Liberated before. It's a rush."
"...It's actually kind of weird. I got mine like that, but the last guy's didn't work as well."
"You've done this before?"
"Oh, yeah. He wasn't eating enough, but we're going to deal with his master as soon as we get his equipment. He can't summon with a mask."
"That sounds serious."
"I think I put it in lighter terms. His master knows that I know that if anything's up, I'll do something rash."
"You would beat someone based on suspicion?"
"Worse, I'd leak the information onto the internet. Fate worse than death, nowadays."
"You're joking."
"Got it in one."
"Ha… The school year just started… Can I get some of my work done, before I dedicate myself to whatever it is you do?"
"Oh, yeah, sure. I'm just trying to figure out how everything works right now. If you ever come to a decision, or have more questions, go to the Velvet Room in Shibuya."
"I don't think I've heard of that place."
"Only exists for Persona-users."
"Ah. That seems logical. Maybe it's some threshold of insanity that needs to be broken."
"You know how many people would have broken that threshold in the time it took for you to say that?"
"Fair."
Ryuji groaned, not understanding a word of what was being said. Felt like dead weight more than anything.
"Oh, I forgot he was here!"
"Me too. And I was carrying the guy!"
"You guys…" He turned green, the car sickness- Bike sickness?- catching up to him. "Su- Blegh!"
"Get off my jacket!"
"Ryuji, you didn't see anything." They exited the metaverse in the conspicuously empty alley.
"If I did, I wouldn't believe it," he said in a daze, still looking vaguely green.
"That's the spirit." He slapped him on the back, sending him into another round of retching. He glanced at Makoto.
"...You can get him home, right?"
"I suppose that's my responsibility… Thank you, Amamiya-san."
"It's Ren now. There are some things that you can't do and not end up friends."
"I suppose. Vice versa applies then."
"Ha, that's true. See ya later. And remember, Velvet Room. Tell the blonde to give me a call. Bring Ryuji too, so he doesn't blab about anything he doesn't understand."
I'm off to do some investigating of my own.
AN:
WE HIT A THOUSAND VIEWS LETS FUCKING GOOOOOOOOOO-
Incredibly sorry about taking the chapter down right after uploading on Friday, I wasn't trying to bait you guys, but it's done being beta'd now, so it's all good. Sorry about that, but it's a small price to pay for a 5k chapter. It surprised me too.
This chapter sucks. But, hey, I wrote it, it's to be expected. The next few chapters are going to be more metaverse centric, he's going to be doing stuff. Probably, it depends on how much sleep I get.
I know Persona 5 had a planned doubt mechanic or whatever, but I'm sticking to FES rules.
Thanks to NoRoleModelz for beta'ing this chapter, he's a better writer than I, so go check his shit out. He helped make the distorted Shujin a bit weirder.
Thanks to my readers for getting me to this milestone, I'm glad my shitty fanfic of a fanfic was liked enough for its many people to see it.