Chapter 23

April 30, 2021; Friday

(Morning)

6:46 AM

Kyuto High, Front Gate

"So, we are going to be transported by this bus to the airport where we will board a plane on our way to Tokyo, correct?"

Kazuhiko nodded as he put his phone away.

"Right. Now all that's left to do is wait for the rest of the group. Hm? Oh, here they are."

Daichi, Mikan, and Iselin were walking to the gate when they spotted their leader. Smiling, they all waved and grouped together.

"Hello, Kazuhiko. Looks like we're all here and packed up." Daichi said.

Hugin cawed.

"Indeed we are Master Daichi."

Munin ruffled his feathers before speaking.

"Are you sure you packed everything?"

"We added some additional items that we thought might help."

"There may be more people who oppress water heaters in this Tokyo place."

"For safety measures, we packed our entire kitchen appliance army."

"Wait, is that why my backpack's heavy?"

"We packed most of the knives but the cutting board insisted that we take it along. That and the blender."

Daichi sighed as he put down his bag and pulled out various items. Meanwhile, Mikan and Iselin made small talk with Kazuhiko.

"So, where should we go first once we touch the ground?" Mikan asked.

"Perhaps we can check the art museums in Shibuya? I believe that they have some new additions there ever since the growing popularity of a well known artist." Hildr said.

"Oh, right! Who was he again? Yusuke Kitagawa? Wasn't he also known as Inari?" Iselin commented.

Kazuhiko checked the tourist guide and nodded.

"Yep, you're right. Says here that he's an up and running artist with a nearly endless palette. I already had plans to head there anyways."

Iselin pumped her fists in the air while Mikan quickly stepped in.

"Wait, hold on. The schedule here says that we will have to attend to Shujin Academy fo the first day, then we get the rest of the week to ourselves."

Iselin groaned.

"Really? Man, I thought this was our time, not some dumb exchange."

Daichi sighed and picked up his bag.

"Stop complaining, we still have a good amount of time to ourselves. We can go to that exhibit tomorrow."

Iselin sighed and crossed her arms.

"Well, whatever. Is there anything else that we need to do?"

Mikan looked at the schedule again.

"It says here that we will be lodging at the Wilton Hotel. Nice place for a buffet and good reviews. We'll be expected to report there everyday before 10 PM."

"Are there any other services that they provide there?" Skadi asked.

Kazuhiko looked up the location on his phone and nodded.

"Yeah. It says here that they recently agreed to a contract with an artificial hot springs company. Seems like a good idea to relax once we get back, right? Uh, Skadi? Are you okay?"

Skadi stayed motionless, then snapped back to the present.

"W-Wha-? Y-yes, I-I'm fine…"

Mikan raised an eyebrow and looked suspiciously at Skadi.

"Are you sure?"

Skadi hesitated and whispered to her.

"Is it okay if I talk to you for a moment in private?"

Mikan shrugged and walked a few meters from the group.

"I get the feeling that the sauna won't be the only thing your male friends have in mind at the hotel."

"How many times do I have to tell you?" Mikan protested.

"Sure, they're guys, but they aren't that bad. I doubt they'll peep. Besides, I've got you if we need some security."

Skadi blinked and a smile formed on her face.

"I believe that I can talk any measures necessary to protect you from them, correct?"

Mikan nodded.

"Yes. Only necessary measures. No unfair judgement or anything like that. I'll make sure Hildr will help you too."

Skadi nodded.

"Right then. I guess there's really nothing to be worried about, is there?"

Mikan shook her head.

"Nope. Now let's go back. The bus should be here by now."

7:00 AM

"Alright, class. Now behave yourselves; This is an earned privilege that you have. If any of you mess around, you'll be sent right back home, am I understood?" Mr. Ozuma said.

Everybody quickly nodded and piled into the bus. The four were able to get seats next to each other. Kazuhiko helped everyone get their belongings into the shelves on top of their seats and sat back down. Tyr looked uneasy as he floated in place.

"Kazuhiko, correct me if I'm wrong, but have you forgotten anything?"

Kazuhiko looked confused.

"What are you talking about? I went over my list before we left."

"Do you have you dental equipment?"

"Yes."

"Your extra sets of clothes?"

"Yes."

"Snacks and spending money?"

"Yeah."

"Strange." Tyr continued.

"And yet I feel as if there's something missing…"

Kazuhiko scratched the back of his head.

"Well, if I missed anything, I'll just ask Johei for some of his. You'll help me out, right Johei?"

Kazuhiko turned to the seat next to him.

"… Johei?"

Meanwhile

"HEEEEY! WAIT FOR ME!" Johei yelled as he ran after the bus.

"Dude, I told you to set an alarm for today!" Loki yelled at Johei.

"What are you talking about?! You said that you had the alarm covered!"

"And you believed me?!"

"… You know what? Fair point. HEY! STOP THE BUS!"

A few minutes later…

"Yo, thanks dude." Johei said while trying to catch his breath.

Kazuhiko shook his head.

"I was wondering where you were. Then, I heard the shouting from outside."

Johei scratched his head.

"Yeah. The running and the yelling really tore my throat. Say, how come you didn't hear me sooner?"

Skadi looked the other way, whistling innocently.

(Flashback)

"HEY! WAIT FOR ME!"

Skadi looked at the rear-view mirror to see Johei running to catch up to the bus. Then, she reaches for the volume control on the driver's radio.

"Did the music just get louder?"

(Flashback End)

"Oh, it was probably because of all the talking that was going on." Skadi said quickly.

"Uh huh. Well at least we got here quickly enough." Loki said.

Johei flipped through the schedule and stopped at an interesting page.

"Hey, did you guys know that we're not the only school to participate in this trip? Says here that students from Yasogami High are going to be there too. Same hotel and everything."

Kazuhiko quickly jumped onto the subject.

"Wait, Yasogami High from Inaba? I never knew they were doing something like that. They'd never pull their budget for this."

Johei shrugged.

"Well, they're going here like it or not. Say, didn't you used to go to Yasogami?"

And for the rest of the ride to the airport, everybody was caught up in a conversation.

9:00 AM

Airport

"Okay, everybody walk down the aisle one at a time behind me. You may take some time to look around the airport but report to the designated meeting point in an hour." Mr. Ozuma said.

Kazuhiko and the gang decided to walk around for a place to eat. They hadn't had breakfast yet and were quite eager for a full meal before the flight.

After eating for some time at a ramen shop, they decided to retire to the nearby shops. The boys decided to hit the arcades to pass the time while Iselin dragged Mikan over to the nearby art gallery.

"Oh, come on, man! Quit doing that!" Johei yelled at Daichi.

"You always fall for such a simple move. It's your own fault that I keep hitting you." Daichi replied.

"Go, Master Daichi! We shall not stand for the tyranny of this man!"

"Hit him with a hadoken! Block the oncoming attack! Seize victory!"

Hugin and Munin continued to spout nonsense while Johei started to get even more annoyed.

"Come on, Loki. Don't you have any support for me?" Johei asked.

"Do you expect me to break out into a cheerleader costume and pom-poms? Because I'm not gonna do that."

Johei shuddered.

"Tell me you'll do that if I lose. That's all the motivation I need."

Kazuhiko rolled his eyes and looked around the arcade for a game that caught his eye. His gaze stopped at a sniper battle arcade game. At one of the stations was a boy with brown hair who was playing against the CPU.

"Hey, is it okay if I join you?" Kazuhiko asked as he walked up.

The boy jerked suddenly and turned around.

"Oh, sorry I startled you. Are you okay?" He said.

The boy waved his hand.

"I'm fine, thanks. Go ahead onto the other one. The CPU on this is too predictable."

The boy had green eyes and some light hair growing at his chin. He also wore headphones over his ears but seemed to hear perfectly fine. Walking over to his side of the machine, Kazuhiko picked up the game rifle.

10 minutes later…

"huff… puff… Not even… a single… hit?"

Kazuhiko felt his entire purpose in life slip away. The boy on the other side smiled and scratched his arm.

"Don't feel too down in the dumps. I've played this for quite a while. To tell you the truth, your first opponent probably shouldn't have been me."

Kazuhiko smiled as he put down the game rifle.

"How long have you played this? I mean, that type of shooting really takes some practice, unless you actually shoot guns."

The boy shook his head.

"No, I just spend a lot of time playing games. I'm Felipe Ferreira. You go to Kyuto too, right?"

Kazuhiko nodded his head.

"Yeah. I'm here for the trip that the school provided."

"Oh, nice. You must be pretty smart. I'm also going but for a tournament there. The school agreed to take me there free of charge."

Tyr looked at the boy with some mutual interest in him.

"I wonder why one a boy such as himself is so dedicate to these games."

"So, why are you so into video games?" Kazuhiko asked.

Felipe shifted a little.

"Well, to tell you the truth… They're a lot more fun than real life."

Tyr raised an eyebrow, or what was apparently his eyebrow.

"Why is he lying about something as trivial as this?" He said.

Kazuhiko decided that it probably wouldn't be best to ask yet.

"Well, anyways, it's almost time to meet at the rendezvous point. Good luck in your tournament."

Felipe smiled and nodded.

"Thanks! Have a good time in Tokyo too!"

Before Kazuhiko walked off, time began to stop.

"Oh, crap. Not again…"

I art Thou, Thou art I

Thou hast established a new bond

In order to attain a firm grip on the power to expel despair

I present to thee the Emperor Arcana

"Um, so, you were going somewhere?"

Kazuhiko blinked when he found out that he was staring for quite sometime. Quickly, he replied.

"Oh, yeah. Sorry, I just space out sometimes. Well, see you later."

Kazuhiko walked off and saw Daichi and Johei squaring off at yet another game.

"Hah! Let's see you beat that score!" Johei said after finishing a round on a shooting arcade game.

"Already did." Daichi said as he walked up to Kazuhiko.

Johei looked over at Daichi's screen.

"W-What?! All those points with just the handgun?! 87% accuracy?!"

Johei slumped on the console while Loki patted him on the back.

"Eh, don't worry. Give it your best shot next time." He said

"Yeah, well, I guess there's always another… was that just a freaking pun?"

"Wait, did I do that? Yep, I totally did that on purpose!"

Johei groaned some more while Daichi and Kazuhiko were talking,

"Have any idea where the girls are at now?" Daichi asked.

"I didn't see them in the art gallery."

Kazuhiko shrugged.

"Maybe they went somewhere that Mika-senpai wanted to go to. Hey, Johei. Any idea where senpai would be right now?" Kazuhiko asked.

Johei recovered from his depressing state and stood up.

"Um, I think she might go to the music store. She really likes to listen to piano music."

Girls POV

"Ah… that really clears up the mind." Iselin said as she listened to the recorded piece.

Mikan nodded.

"It's not the real thing, but it sounds close enough."

The two decided it would be a nice change of pace if they had their "girl time" away from the guys.

"They guys are nice, but they do tend to get a bit noisy." Mikan said.

Iselin chuckled.

"A bit noisy? Please, they fight about every two seconds. Well, mostly Johei and Daichi, anyways."

"Don't even get me started on Johei. How he acts towards every woman he meets. And not to mention the outrageous pranks that he pulls even during class." Skadi said.

Mikan looked at her with a confused look.

"What are you talking about? That's Loki."

Skadi shook her head.

"Those two are so alike, it wouldn't be hard to mix them up."

Iselin sighed from her arm chair.

"Geez, cut the crap. We all know that you have something against him, but it's in the past now. Stop grilling him for that."

"That's not even the worst thing about him! And if he teaches Johei these things… I don't want to imagine two of him!"

Hildr put her arm on her shoulder.

"Skadi, dear, I think it's a bit unfair that you're judging Johei by his Persona. Besides, Loki isn't all that bad."

"Then why is he such a pervert? Loki has to play a role in that."

Mikan shook her head.

"Johei's always been a pervert. It's just how guys are. Some just are more considerate of their actions, but there's nothing wrong with him being like that."

"B-but! It's Loki! He's just showing you that facade of his just so he can get past your defenses and- Ugh! Don't you realize the signs?!"

"Oh, there you guys are. It's almost time to leave." Johei said.

Skadi whipped around and pointed an accusing finger at Johei.

"I see through your tricks, little man! They are not fooling me! Everyone else might believe you, but I know your true nature!"

Johei blinked a few times before turning to Mikan.

"Is it just me, or is she starting to act more like a femi-Nazi?"

"Yeah! Call her out on it, dude! Give me five!"

*BAM*

"-Agh! I wasn't talking to you! And that's not how you give someone a high five!"

Skadi readied her fist.

"I believe that I came in contact with you using all five of my fingers. Maybe I should try again?"

Loki stood in a defensive stance.

"Alright then! Go ahead! I've been preparing for this for a long time! Come at me bro… er, sis."

*CATCH*(or whatever sound that happens when you block a punch)

"Hah! Didn't see that coming did yo-"

*THWACK*

"AAAGHH!"

"On the contrary, I did."

Johei stepped in between them.

"Okay, okay, that's enough. Mika-senpai, can you please get Skadi to stop beating up Loki?"

11:47 AM

Airplane

Kazuhiko sat in his seat looking out the window. They had been above the clouds for quite sometime that Johei had been napping in the seat next to him. Daichi was reading the travel guide to pass the time while Mikan read a book and Iselin was trying to figure out how to use her phone with airplane mode on.

Sighing, he closed his eyes to focus.

"So, once we touch down, we're gonna be spending time at Shujin academy for the remainder of the day. I wonder why we're going there." Tyr quietly mumbled to himself.

"Who knows? I mean, maybe they think this is some cultural exchange or something, but on our vacation time? Seriously?" Iselin said without looking up from her phone.

Kazuhiko continued staring out the window.

"Hey, it looks like we're going under the clouds now. Johei, Wake up!"

Johei straightened his posture when he was nudged in the ribs.

"Agh… What? Are we there yet?"

Johei turned to the window and widened his eyes.

"Holy crap! Look at the place! So much to do here!"

Kazuhiko chuckled to himself.

"Yeah, I think you mean, so many girls here to hit on."

"Of course I do! Why the hell did you think I even bothered to pass that test for?!"

Iselin shook her head.

"Jesus, you really are a pervert. Do you think of nothing else?"

"He thinks about you two in swimsuits. He's rather descriptive about it." Loki chimed in.

Mikan fumed.

"Okay, that's it! Johei, when we set foot off this plane, I am going to give you one hell of an ass kicking!"

"Why bother to wait?" Skadi said.

As Mikan was introducing her fist to Johei's face, Loki laughed.

"Oh man. He got so carried away with talking about you two, I couldn't help but let my imagination wander. Hey, Daichi, Kaz, get a load of these knockers!"

On Loki's monitor was a very accurate photo-shop of Mikan and Iselin on the beach in swimsuits. Apparently, Loki had a very active imagination when it came to cup size.

"So… can this be used as my justification for murdering you?" Skadi muutered under her breath.

"I think I want in on this as well…" Hildr told Skadi.

Loki jumped back.

"Whoa! Hey, ladies, take it a little easy! Heh-heh, I mean, this is all just imagination right? It's not like I've seen them like this before! *gulp*"

*BAM*

*POW*

*CRASH*

"… worth it."

Daichi rolled his eyes as he buckled in his seatbelt.

Shujin Academy

1:52 PM

"All right! Settle down!" The teacher at the podium said.

"You may all call me Mr. Ushimaru. The rest of the day, you will be spending time coercing with other students from this academy. But first, a few words from our leading teacher."

Mr. Ushimaru stepped down from the stand and walked to the side. After he left, a middle aged female teacher came to the stand. She tapped it a few times to check and looked into the crowd of students.

"Hello everyone for Kyuto High School. My name is Sadayo Kawakami and I am one of the teachers here at Shujin Academy."

A couple students started whispering to each other.

"Whoa, dude. She's really a teacher?"

"What a hottie!"

"Man! Look at that rack!"

"Careful, don't let her hear you!"

Johei just stood there looking at her. Kazuhiko looked confused and nudged him.

"So, anything you want to say about her?"

Johei shook his head.

"No, not really. I mean, she's a looker, but she's also a teacher. I'm not about to get myself into something like that."

Loki looked amused.

"Oho, so you have standards? I thought you took whatever you could get. I mean, you gave a love letter to that Nikano girl. Making out on the first date, man are you a big game hunter!"

Johei just rolled his eyes and listened to the speech.

"… and with that being said, I hope you all enjoy this time that we have together!"

There was a round of applause from the Shujin audience and they were later given their schedules for the day. After checking, Kazuhiko and Johei had the same classes, Iselin and Daichi were as well, and Mikan had classes with some of her friends.

Kawakami's classroom

"Alright then! So, take your seats, it doesn't matter where, just find one."

Johei and Kazuhiko took seats similar to where their old ones were at Kyuto and looked to the front. An orange haired girl with glasses took a seat in front of Kazuhiko and started grumbling.

"Dammit… I'll get you back for this Inari."

Not wanting to get involved, Kazuhiko remained quite. Ms. Kawakami held attention.

"So, has everyone been seated? Then let's get started. Now, according to the syllabus that the district gave us teachers, I'm supposed to make you do icebreakers and all that crap, but that's kind of clichéd, isn't it?"

The Kyuto students looked a bit shocked at the sudden use of language from the teacher, but the Shujin students didn't seem fazed. The girl in front of Kazuhiko whispered to him.

"She treats us like equals so we can feel more comfortable. Feel free to let you sailor vocabulary loose."

Kazuhiko nodded and looked back to the teacher. She continued.

"So, I've come up with my own syllabus for the day. You students from Kyuto probably haven't had any lunch, so I thought we could go for some at the family restaurant in Shibuya. Kinda letting you guys get the most of your time here. Shujin students, go with some of our guests and let them get a sense of the place. All the other teachers agreed to do this so don't feel like you're breaking the rules."

All the students got out of their seats and started to group up. Kazuhiko and Johei wanted to talk to their Personas for a little bit.

"So, who should we pair up with?" Johei asked.

"Ooh! Ooh! That chick over there! Can't you see those breasts just screaming to be let out of that shirt?!"

Tyr looked confusedly at Loki.

"What are you talking about? I don't hear anything."

Loki rolled his eyes and turned to Kazuhiko.

"Well, you get what I'm saying, right? What do you say? Want to go hook up with the hottie over there?"

But Kazuhiko was too busy looking at a group of four at the side of the classroom. Three of them were third years that came here to talk with the first year with orange hair. Behind the third years was Iselin, Daichi, and Mikan.

"Hm? Oh, there you guys are! We were wondering if you were grouped up with someone yet." Mikan said to them.

Kazuhiko led Johei over to the happy party and spoke.

"You already found a group that quickly? You guys are pretty fast."

Mikan smiled.

"Well, it was mostly these three. They just walked up to me and asked if I wanted to be a part of their group. Before I knew it, we were looking for Iselin and Daichi, and eventually you two."

Kazuhiko looked at the third years. There were two boys and one girl; One of the boys had his hair bleached blond while the other had a darker colored hair that was a tint of blue. The girl's hair looked naturally pale blond and had blue eyes.

"Oh, so are you two Kazuhiko and Johei?" The girl asked.

Kazuhiko nodded and the blond boy walked up to him.

"Nice! So I guess we got the whole party then! The name's Ryuji Sakamoto! Nice and easy to remember, plus the ladies love it!"

The girl with orange hair rolled her eyes behind her glasses.

"In your dreams, bonehead. Mishima-senpai has a better chance of getting a girl than you do!"

Ryuji frowned.

"Hey! That's not nice!"

The foreign girl supported him.

"Yeah, Futaba! Don't be mean to Mishima by comparing him to Ryuji!"

Ryuji turned to the girl.

"Oh, come on, Ann! That was cheap."

The blue haired boy coughed to get their attention.

"Um, so should we get going now? I mean, a lot of groups already left.

They looked around the classroom to see that the entire classroom was empty save for themselves and Kawakami. Ryuji face palmed himself and nodded.

"Yeah, let's drop this and go."

Quickly, the group of teenagers rushed out of the classroom to follow the students heading to the station.

2:45 PM

Shibuya District

"And, here's a great place for trying to get through the crowds. Strange though, it's a lot more crowded than usual." Ryuji said.

Behind them were a bunch of other students from Shujin.

"Oh my god, did you see that guy?"

"I heard he's from Kyuto. Should I go talk to him?"

"What about the other guy? He seems familiar."

"You mean him? Yeah! He reminds me of Akira-senpai!"

Johei heard the whispering behind them and turned around for a quick look.

"Dude! There's a bunch of girls following us! I knew that new person charm would work to our advantage!" He said to Kazuhiko.

"I'm not sure what you're talking about." He said back.

Johei rolled his eyes.

"Oh come on! Look, I'll ask if we can stop for a quick breather, and those girls are gonna be all over us!"

Johei tapped Ryuji's shoulder to get his attention.

"Hey, is it okay if we stop for a little while? I want to get some good pictures in."

Ryuji nodded.

"Well, okay. But, I doubt the hoard is really interested in you."

Johei raised an eyebrow.

"Huh? What do you mean by hoard? Ah well, either way, babe city here I come!"

The group stopped and waited for the girls to catch up to them. Johei, feeling confidant stepped up to meet them.

"Hey there, ladies! I thought I heard somebody chattering about me. Which one of you lucky ladies was it?"

The group of girls walked up to Johei…

And walked past him without so much as a glance.

"Wh-what?! Hey! I'm over here!"

Ryuji patted him on the back.

"Like I said, I don't think they were talking about you."

The girls crowded around Kazuhiko and Daichi.

"H-hi there! I'm f-f-from Shujin academy! W-want me t-t-to show you around?" A girl said as she started to burst Kazuhiko's figurative privacy bubble.

"Wow, you sure are a looker, aren't you? Want to know a place where you can have a fun time with us?" Another girl said to Daichi as she linked her arm with his.

"Aaaaaand Shiroka misses the swing. Kinda reminds me of you guys at the beach when you tried to hit on some girls." Futaba said to Ryuji.

Ryuji sighed as he remembered the event.

"Please, don't remind me. I just want to forget about those guys in Shinjuku."

Iselin and Mikan watched the two boys getting drowned in girls with boredom, or at least Mikan was.

"So this is the majority of the girls at Shujin? Man, they really hit on guys a lot, don't they?"

Ann nodded.

"Yep. Believe it or not, one of our old friends got hit on more than those two combined, and he had fake rumors going around that he was some Yakuza member."

Only Iselin stayed quiet, her eyes staying fixed on the girls around Daichi, who seemed to be completely clueless to what was going on.

"Just look at them all! Don't they have a shred of self respect?! And he's just standing there accepting it! At least Kazuhiko's doing something to keep them at bay."

Iselin continued to grumble to herself while Ann talked to Mikan.

"Um, so does she have, like, a crush on the red-head over there?"

"I most certainly do not!" Iselin yelled out at Ann.

"Eek!" Ann yelped as she jumped into Ryuji's arms.

"W-whoa! Ann! At least tell me when you're going to do that! And have you been working out at all ever since the last time we went to the gym?"

Ann conked Ryuji over the head.

"Oh, knock it off!"

They continued bickering with each other, Ann still in Ryuji's arms, until Futaba brought them back.

"Hey, shouldn't we continue with the tour?"

The two stopped fighting and decided to break the crowd around Kazuhiko and Daichi. And with that, they continued on.

4:33 PM

Art Museum

The group of teenagers were walking around, looking at famous paintings that were just put on display. Iselin was quickly running around looking at every painting.

"Wow! Look at this! It says the artist took a journey to Everest for inspiration of this painting! And this one! Every stroke of the brush was calculated to make this scene!"

The others looked quite amused at Iselin's childish side but they soon were also admiring the art on the walls. Mikan was enjoying herself but was wondering how they were able to get in for free.

"Oh, don't worry about it!" Ann told her.

"We know a friend here who's showcasing his own piece!"

"Really? Where!" Iselin asked.

Ann led them to a painting and spoke.

"He's been working on this for a little while ever since Akira left."

Iselin started to take in the painting slowly.

"Wait, that part seems familiar… I've seen something like this…"

Iselin squinted at it and asked Futaba.

"Who made this painting? I don't see a nameplate anywhere."

Futaba blushed profusely and touched the tips of her index fingers.

"W-well… It's my boyfriend's…"

Iselin walked up to her.

"And who is this boyfriend of yours?"

Futaba continued to blush and didn't say anything. However, Ann spoke for her.

"Well, they aren't officially dating but his name is Y-"

"Ah, hello you three! I was wondering if you'd be able to make it here on time."

Ryuji smiled as he stood up from the bench.

"Dude! I was wondering how long it'd take until you showed up."

The boy in front of them had long blue bangs that were swept to the side and wore a Kosei High uniform. Iselin stood motionless.

"Y-Y-Yusuke-senpai?!"

Yusuke turned to Iselin and smiled.

"Ah! Iselin-san! How have you been?"

"You never told me you went here! And that you had such a cute girlfriend!" Iselin said as she smiled coyly.

Yusuke blinked and stared at her confusedly.

"Girlfriend? Who do you mean by that?"

Iselin pointed over to Futaba who hid her face in her hands, but could easily be seen blushing a violent crimson. Yusuke walked over to her.

"Futaba? What is the meaning of this?"

Futaba lowered her hands quickly and pouted.

"Goddammit Inari! It's all your fault!"

Yusuke leaped back a few feet.

"M-my fault? How is this even close to my fault?"

"It's because you're such a weirdo! You and your rubbish mentality!"

"What do you even mean by that?"

"Can you two please stop fighting? I'm already up to my ears in homework as it is." A voice called to them from behind.

Kazuhiko turned around and saw two girls walking towards the group. One of them had dark brown hair and red tinted eyes while the other had lighter brown hair and eyes.

"Oh, I didn't know you two were going to be here today!" Ann said.

"Well, we came here on behalf of Yusuke, but we've also got another reason. Oh, are these the students from Kyuto?" The dark haired girl asked.

Kazuhiko nodded and stepped forward, but was cut off by Johei.

"Hi there! I'm Johei Shiroka! And can I just say you look amazing?" He said as he stuck out his hand.

The girl's expression slowly darkened and her fist tightened.

"Uh, dude." Ryuji said to him.

"There are two reasons why you don't hit on Makoto. One: She's already taken; and Two: She's Makoto."

Johei looked confused.

"What do you mean 'she's Makoto'? What's wrong with tha-"

*POW*

"Huh, I like her already" Skadi whispered to Mikan.

Mikan jumped as she heard Skadi's voice.

"Geez, where were you?" She whispered.

"Oh, just out with everybody else seeing the sites, beating up Loki, the usual."

Haru looked over to Mikan and widened her eyes.

"I-is that-"

"Yeah. Akira texted us about this. For now, just pretend that they don't exist." Ryuji quickly whispered to her.

Haru nodded and turned to the Kyuto students.

"Hey! Why don't we take them to Leblanc?"

Makoto nodded.

"Yeah. I could go for some of boss's coffee right now."

They all walked to the exit with their Personas in tow.

"G-guys… a little help?" Johei weakly said as he was on the floor.

Loki floated next to him and shook his head.

"Tsk tsk tsk. Johei, I thought you would have been better than this." Loki told him as he floated off.

"Wait! Loki! Help me!"

7:43 PM

Leblanc; Front Entrance

"If you guys need any help around here, talk to the owner and tell him you know us, alright? He'll give you some directions or some curry if you're hungry." Ryuji said to them.

Kazuhiko nodded. He could hear a grunt from behind him.

Probably Johei, he thought.

"Well then, come on in!" Ryuji said as he opened the door for them.

Inside, was a middle aged man with glasses and a goatee. Futaba ran in and plopped herself in a seat.

"Sojiro! You got any curry cooking right now?"

The man called Sojiro chuckled.

"Yeah, I do. I've got a part-timer working on it right now. You might want to meet him." He said as he walked to the kitchen.

Futaba raised an eyebrow.

"Part-timer? He always does his own work unless…"

Makoto's eyes widened.

"You don't think…"

The Shujin students ran inside quickly to the kitchen to see a raven haired boy with glasses on.

"Oh, hey guys." He said.

Everyone was silent for a few moments. Then, Makoto broke the silence.

"A… A…"

"AKIRA!" Everyone shouted as they tackled the boy to the ground.

"And don't you forget the mighty Morgana!" A black cat said on the bar table.

Kazuhiko widened his eyes when he saw the cat.

"D-don't tell me… that cat just… talked?" He slowly said.

The Kyuto students behind him were also on the verge of letting their jaws drop.

"Don't worry. You're not going crazy." Akira told them as he got up.

Readjusting his glasses, he walked over with a few plates in his hands.

"It just means that Igor was right. You guys are Persona users. Now, how about some curry?"

Sorry that this took so long to make, guys. Plus the length of the chapter is ridiculously long, but I tried to fit everything in here. The cast of Persona 5 is introduced! Oh, these guys are the best, only seconded to the P4 cast. Anyways, these guys will play a very minor part in this fiction; Not social links, mind you, so don't get me started on them joining the party. I decided to set this one year after the start of Persona 5 so not a lot has changed. If you want to know what happened so far, Yusuke, Ryuji, Ann, and Futaba have been in Highschool, Makoto and Haru have gone to the same college, and Akira and Morgana have come back for unexplained reasons. I'll make sure to explain to why I've got them here all together in the next chapter. Plus, I wanted to add this in so I wouldn't bore you guys too much with another filler chapter. Oh yeah, about the new party member showing up in this chapter, really sorry about that. I swear that they will be here in the next one, though. Until next week! Bye!