Rem sighed as she stood waiting for the train at the Shibuya transfer line to Aoyama to come, wringing the water from the morning rain out of her braid and wiping the water from her fake glasses. It had only been a single day to her school life and it was already proving to be a pain.

In a single day alone, she'd heard several rumours about herself ranging from that she secretly had a knife on her person ready to stab anyone who talked to her to another rumour that her assault case was more than it let on. At one point she'd been ready to punch a guy in the face when he sneered at her as she passed him on the way from class.

She shook her head, the last thing she needed right now was an actual assault case on top of what was already on her criminal record, false as it was. Just the day before Sojiro had been livid at the fact she'd skipped school, her mouth wisely staying shut as she kept quiet about the castle incident. He'd probably think she was crazy if she talked to him about it.

At least when she talked about it with Ryuji Sakamoto yesterday, he'd at least entertained the idea that it might have been real before dismissing it as a dream. He was an idiot if he thought that two people could share the same dream, or the fact that dreams left bruises on his stomach when she'd noticed his shirt had slipped upwards a little. At least he was a well-meaning idiot she supposed if he'd been willing to protect her.

She idly thought back on how Ryuji had mentioned going back there…

"Look, isn't that her?" she heard someone say causing her to whip her head backwards, finding it to be a Shujin student talking. She closed her eyes and counted backwards from three, reigning in her frustrations. It was proving difficult.

"You mean the one with the red hair? Uh, I guess so…" a sleepy voice replied, causing her eyes to snap open and look over the pair.

She found that they actually weren't looking at her and instead were talking about a shorter girl just ahead of her with crimson locks falling down straight like a waterfall. She was the slightest bit jealous since her own were wavy which necessitated a braid otherwise they tended to get out of hand.

"She's so thin… It's not fair, my hair's straight as well if I take it out of a ponytail…"

Rem looked at the stupid girl. What in the world did having straight hair have to do with being thin?

The sleepy student gave her a weird look as well. "Okay, and what's that got to do with being thin?"

Her eavesdropping on their conversation stopped as the transfer line train arrived at the platform, halting before them with a screech.

She stood just next to the red-haired girl who was sitting down as the train approached Aoyama, feeling like a pack of sardines in the vaunted subway system of Japan. The red-haired girl looked up noticing an old lady just in front of her.

"Um… would you like to take my seat? I'll be getting off soon…" she asked hesitantly as she slowly got up.

"Are you sure? If you insist…"

The red-haired girl moved to the side to allow the old lady through but the seat was quickly taken by a dark-haired office worker. The red-haired looked at the man startled before her expression settled to that of concerned hesitance.

"Um… E-Excuse me… that seat was for this lady…" the red-haired girl tried to get his attention to which the man looked at her for a moment before 'sleeping'.

Rem had half a mind to slap him awake and physically drag him out of the seat. She was slowly realising that after the events of yesterday she was becoming increasingly prone to considering violence as an option. It felt liberating.

"Oh…"

"Want me to 'wake him up'?" Rem asked the girl as she cracked her knuckles.

The red-haired girl shook her head while giving Rem a small gentle smile. "It's okay… he might just be tired…" but even Rem could tell she didn't believe her own words. The girl looked over to the old lady beside her with downcast eyes, "I'm sorry I couldn't be of any help…"

"It's all right, dearie. Don't you worry," the woman assured the red-haired girl.

"O-Okay…" the red-haired girl nodded before extending a hand to the old lady's carry-on. "Would you like me to carry that then, at least?"

"Thank you!" The luggage quickly exchanged hands as the girl picked it up with ease, "Isn't it heavy though?".

"I do lots of training so this is easy for me…" the girl shook her head giving the old lady a quiet smile.

Eventually, the train came to a stop, Rem rushing out as the sardines of Japan exited the doorway. She made her way up the stairs and put her ticket through the ticket reader, passing through and plucking her ticket from the other side before making her way to Shujin.

"Um… Excuse me!" a voice called out from behind.

She heard a smattering of rapid footsteps causing her to turn around finding the red-haired girl from earlier. The girl didn't seem the slightest bit out of breath as she places her hands in front of her and gave a shallow bow. "I-I wanted to say thank you for what you did earlier…"

Rem gave her a quizzical look. "For threatening to wake that guy up?"

The girl nodded downcast, "For speaking up for me… I tried to say something but I was too afraid to say anything against him…"

"Anyone could tell he was faking being asleep. Felt wrong to just let him do that to that lady," Rem shrugged.

The red-haired girl tittered before her vision caught onto something on Rem's neck. "Oh… you're a second year at Shujin Academy?"

Rem nodded, her own eyes noticing the number one within a white circle on the lapel of the girl's blazer. "You're a first-year," she stated obviously.

The girl nodded, finally looking up from either the floor or her coat and directly at her eyes. "I wanted to thank you on the train… but it slipped my mind. I didn't want to seem rude to my senpai so I thought I should thank you now."

Rem noticed that the girl's eyes behind her spectacles were a shade of red duller than her own.

"I'm sorry… but I have to get to class now…" The girl gave another shallow bow with her hands clasped in front of her before walking ahead.

She watched as the girl walked up the steps. Shrugging the incident to the back of her mind she pulled out her collapsible umbrella and prepared herself for more stupid rumours and her hair getting soaked again.

"I'm the social studies teacher, Mr. Ushimaru. I'll be teaching you the rules of society this year," Akira listened as the familiar form of Ushimaru stood at the podium. His chin rested on the palm of his hand as he looked at the teacher, but his mind was elsewhere.

It had been bothering him since the end of fifth period yesterday but in the back of his mind, he could feel as a whole Arcana's worth of Persona writhed and squirmed in discomfort in its recesses and he could feel as other Persona were slowly becoming agitated as well.

Each and every single Persona of the Lovers Arcana, led by Ishtar were becoming restless and disquieted, these feelings were also bleeding into the other Arcana's to a lesser degree and for the life of him Akira couldn't figure out why. He combed over the information gleaned from his compendium but as far as he knew the closest thing that could happen was Kamoshida's reformation but that wasn't for another two weeks.

He shook his head as he tuned back into the lesson.

"Hmph, you all look like you've been spoiled growing up. Can't wait to see who disappoints me the most this year," Ushimaru looked over the sea of twenty-five students. "A certain dictionary defines a year as 'a period of 365 disappointments. The book's title is about as cynically satirical as the rest of it. It's 'the Devil's Dictionary', by Ambrose Bierce."

Akira was already losing interest again. He'd read the book before from the school library on a rainy day when no one had sent him a message to spend time with him so he'd gone for broke and asked the student librarian for a book recommendation.

"Hey, new kid," Ushimaru called out.

Akira looked up, but so had Rem.

"Amamiya-san," Ushimaru corrected himself as he noticed the two of them looking at him. Rem straightened up from her slouch as Akira sunk further into his palm. "Tell me what the Devil's Dictionary defined as the chief factor in the progress of the human race."

Akira watched as Rem stayed silent for a moment before answering.

"Villains…"

His right brow rose the slightest bit in surprise. He'd honestly hadn't expected her to know that; had it been him in her shoes when he'd first enrolled he'd have gotten that wrong.

"Haha, correct. 'Malefactors' to be more specific," Ushimaru looked at her with a brow raised and a disdainful glance, "You actually knew that, huh?"

Akira had originally kept his head down in his reality but here as an outside observer he actually found himself disbelieving by how unprofessional the teachers here were. Here a teacher was showing open disdain towards a student and everyone accepted it.

"Sure, villains can affect the course of history. But remember that this definition is a sardonic witticism, nothing more," Ushimaru continued onwards as if he hadn't said what he said. "Here in the real world, villains don't push humanity forward. All they do is spread chaos and strife."

In the moment of short silence that followed, Akira found himself annoyed at the murmured comments that floated around the room.

"Wow, she got it right… is she really a criminal?"

"She seems like a punk, but maybe she's actually serious about studying?"

Akira snorted. The rumour mill at Shujin spread like wildfire but even then they couldn't even form their own opinions without listening to whatever lies anyone else said.

*tinkle*

Akira's eyes bulged as he witnessed a star pop out of Rem's head in a tiny sparkle of smaller stars that all disappeared into thin air. He looked for a moment before shaking his head tiredly. Maybe he needed to lay off on the daily coffee.

Oh, who was he kidding, he'd be getting another one from LeBlanc before the day was up.

Ushimaru continued speaking as Akira watched his eyes drill into Rem. "We don't have any room for criminals here. Not in school, and not in society. Am I clear?"

Rem seemed to slump the ever so slightest in her chair at the comment, Ushimaru turning around to begin writing on the board. The brief moment of brevity Akira felt vanished as he just stared at Ushimaru's back.

"I hear this incredible first-year came yesterday!"

"Wow, that girl with the red hair and glasses is really thin. Is she a first-year?"

"The criminal, the honour student, and the perfect-score transfer all arriving at the same time? Take about an accident waiting to happen."

"Assault, blackmail, drugs… She's done it all."

"I hear if you look in her bag you'll find a knife…"

Akira kept his ears open as he walked out of room 2-D, already the Shujin rumour mill was up and bustling. He took notice of how there was a pretty even split between Sumire and Rem's rumours popping up compared to his own. Then again, his records were all fake, so it's not like they could really come up with anything.

He casually leaned against an adjacent wall as he spied Rem watching Ann as Kamoshida ascended the stairwell, his eyes zeroing in on the bushy-pigtailed blonde. In the depths of his soul, the Persona of the Lovers Arcana vibrated restlessly, Akira passively easing them as he watched the PE teacher and quarter-European interact.

He noticed Rem stop in her movements in the middle of the hallway, her attention focused solely on the two that she didn't even notice other students shy around her as they passed. Kamoshida continued trying to get Ann to go with him before eventually relenting after she cited an excuse about an injury, Kamoshida offering a word of warning to avoid Rem before she left.

He watched as Rem's fist clenched the slightest bit before relaxing as Ann walked away from Kamoshida, who'd walked up the stairs the moment the blonde had left.

He stayed leaning against the wall, observing as Rem descended the stairs. After a moment he got off the wall and began walking over to the end of the corridor, taking a left to the junction where the class buildings and the practice buildings met and stopped. The junction between the buildings was an overpass walkway that connected the two buildings with glass-panes on each side showcasing the Shujin Academy courtyard and the entrance.

He casually leaned against the entrance-side railing, making himself look innocuous to other students as if he was simply enjoying his free-time when in actuality he was spending it observing Rem and Ryuji interact down at the school gates. He watched Rem nod to Ryuji before the two looked around before walking off.

Akira stayed leaning against the railing patiently, calming watching the two walk down the street. In the peripherals of his vision, he noticed a group of girls of to the side, seemingly stalking him like a group of tigers stalked a lone gazelle.

"Is that him?"

"Do you think he's single?"

"I heard that the honour student is with him."

"For real?"

Akira ignored them. His form seemed lackadaisical but his eyes were trained on the alleyway opposite the Shujin Academy entrance. True to his predictions, events were largely following the same path they had in his own reality, Rem and Ryuji walking out of the alleyway. Ryuji had a confused look on his face before he turned to the Trickster cradling his head.

"Um… excuse me," a voice called out.

Akira looked to his side to see that one of the girls had split off from the group and approached him. He didn't recognise her from previous experiences but he nonetheless stood straight and gave her a smile.

Behind her, her group of friends were giggling and blushing.

The girl had straight brown hair in a ponytail and was otherwise unremarkable. That didn't say much since Akira hadn't actually interacted with many of the student at Shujin in this reality or his own.

"I was wondering… but are you single?" the girl asked blushing heavily.

Akira considered his option carefully, before simply opting for the truth.

"I am."

The girl's eyes seemed to brighten before she bowed to him, swiftly she turned around and ran towards her group of friends. He could guess what she'd told them as the continued to giggle and blush as they looked his way.

Akira internally shook his head, turning back to the entrance. Eventually, they dispersed but not before giving him a wave to which he ignored, rather choosing to keep his vigil as Rem and Ryuji left.

The moment they'd left this time, however, he made his way back into the classroom building and up the stairs towards the rooftop. He propped it shut with a chair underneath the doorknob so that no one would follow him for the moment. He grabbed another chair and positioned it so it was facing the entrance and sat down.

The sun was close to a late afternoon/early evening blaze before they returned, Ryuji leaning against the banister of bushes at the academy's entrance while Rem looked annoyed. By this time late in the evening, there were no longer any students leaving the academy, most having gone to stay back inside after class or go to club meetings.

He continued watching them, Rem eventually pulling out her phone and Ryuji snagging it from her hands. The world turned greyscale, the evening sun dimming for a moment as Akira shot up silently, surprised that Third Eye had activated, much less in the real world. He could see from his position as Ryuji swiped through the smartphone before tapping on the Metaverse Navigator App opening it.

The two talked some more, Ryuji shaking his head before tapping the app once more.

Akira watched as the two faded from this layer of reality, Third Eye deactivating as its use was no longer needed. The two were lucky that it was getting late in the afternoon and that there was no one else leaving the school for the moment otherwise people would've been freaking out about disappearing students.

He stood up and picked up his bag. Walking over to the door he tucked the chair away and walked through the door that separated the roof-top from the rest of the building. He never entered Shujin Academy.

He never exited Shujin that day through the front entrance either. If anyone had looked at the alleyway just opposite Shujin's entrance thirty minutes later they would have seen Akira phase into reality and walk off as if nothing happened.

If anyone waited another seven minutes they would have borne witness to two students, a male student with short blonde hair and a girl with black braided hair appear in the same alleyway dead-tired.

And if anyone stayed just a moment longer after the two departed for some beef noodle soup?

They would have noticed a small black cat popped into existence, an annoyed glare on its face as it trotted off.

Rem sighed as she sat down on one of the courtyard seats waiting for Ryuji, her search of looking for any signs of Kamoshida's abuse turning over nothing. She groaned, a whole afternoon wasted scurrying around the campus with nothing to show for it aside from a pair of slightly sore legs and a parched throat.

At least one of those was easily remedied.

She got up and walked over to the nearest vending machine, put in a hundred-yen note and slammed the button for an orange soda, the drink coming out with a satisfying ker-clunk. She grabbed it and popped it open, taking one sweet satisfying gulp.

Footsteps approached from behind causing her to pause in her drinking.

They were too light to be Ryuji, for as short as she'd known him his limp produced a certain rhythm of heavy and light footsteps.

This one was evenly light.

She turned around and found the blonde girl from yesterday walking up to her, the one she'd seen in Kamoshida's castle wearing bikini wear. "Can I talk to you for a sec?" she asked suddenly. Rem merely tilted her head and resumed drinking her soda, leaning back against the vending machine.

"It'll be quick," the blonde, Ann, if she remembered correctly just bulldozed onwards. Rem silently nodded, allowing her to continue but otherwise didn't say a word.

"What's with you? That lie Kawakami gave to the class when you were late was obvious," she asked as she crossed her arms and cocked her hip to the side. "There's that weird rumour going around about you as well…"

One of Rem's fine eyebrows rose with curiosity. "Rumour?"

"Whaddya want with her?" a rough voice asked.

Rem and Ann both looked over as Ryuji made his approach, his limping gait familiar. Ann looked at him with exasperation, "I could say the same about you, you're not even in our class."

"Uh… we just… happened to get to know each other…" Ryuji said lamely with an awkward look on his face.

Ann looked at him for a moment.

"What are you planning on doing to Mr. Kamoshida?" she eventually asked, her tone serious.

"Huh?" Ryuji was taken aback before a look crossed his face, "I see… I see… You're all buddy-buddy with Kamoshida after all."

"This has nothing to do with you, Sakamoto."

Ryuji just leaned forward, "If you found out what he's been doin' behind your back, you'd dump him right away."

"Behind my back…?" Ann asked this time being the one to look in confusion. "What's that supposed to mean?"

That was enough. She'd seen and heard enough in the last two days to understand that Ann wanted to get as far as possible away from Kamoshida, even having cited that she had appendicitis. This shit was stopping now.

Rem took a sip of her soda. "He's been abusing the volleyball team. The whole volleyball team," she said as she pushed herself off the vending machine and tossing her now empty can in the trash.

"What the hell Rem!?" Ryuji asked as he looked at the braided-haired girl, staring at her in surprise.

Rem adjusted her fake glasses as she stared back at him, daring him to say something. "You're listening to whatever rumours people say about her. You're in no position to talk, especially not after what we witnessed yesterday," she said with a no small amount of heat in her voice as she glared at him sternly.

Ryuji visibly wilted at her words, his face pulling into one of consternation. "Grr… fine… Dammit," he looked up at Ann with an apologetic look in his eyes. "Look Takamaki, sorry 'bout that. It's been a shitty day is all and I shouldn'tve been taking it out on you."

Ann, if she could have, looked even more surprised but her brain caught up as she whirled on Rem with a look on her eyes. "What do you mean Mr. Kamoshida's been abusing the volleyball team? And you said the whole team, didn't you?"

Rem nodded and was going to explain the best she could but they were all stopped as a student walked passed Ryuji, through the middle of the talking group, and towards the vending machine Rem was standing at.

"Kurusu-san?" Ann asked surprised as the frizzy-haired teen merely nodded to her before taking out some notes and placing them into the vending machine. Pressing a button an orange soda popped out with a clunk.

The three just stared as he popped it open and took a long sip, his own eyes staring back. "You three should talk a little quieter," he said as he lowered his can and walked off as if nothing had happened.

"…Wha' the hell was that?" Ryuji rubbed the top of his head in confusion as he gawked, watching the teen leave.

Rem had to agree with Kurusu-san though, looking around she could see students in the courtyard gawking at the three of them. She shook her head as she turned to her classmate. Ann looked like she wanted to say something but stopped herself. She gave one more look between Ryuji and Rem before taking off in a dead-sprint in the direction of the building entrance.

The two watched her leave before turning to each other. "Well, that was weird, who even as that guy?" Ryuji asked to which Rem simply replied that he was a transfer.

"A transfer huh? Wait, never mind that for now…" Ryuji scratched his chin but focused his thoughts on their current situation, "…were you able to find out anything? Like anyone's name or somethin'?"

Rem nodded. "Someone name Mishima, the one that got hit in the face earlier today by Kamoshida at the rally. Some people say he and others get some special coaching," she said as she recalled the blue-haired teen. Even on her first day, she noticed he'd been covered in bruises when he'd began fifth period for Kawakami.

"Special 'coaching', huh?" Ryuji muttered in thought. "Sounds 'bout right. I always see the guy riddled with bruises. And Kamoshida didn't care that he'd hurt him this morning either."

He nodded to himself, "Let's go talk to him before he leaves then."

Rem followed him as he ran off in search of Mishima.

Akira groaned mentally, a migraine pulsing and throbbing within his head as the whole Lovers Arcana began to writhe uncontrollably in the depths of his mind. He'd barely been able to make it through the final period of the day after the volleyball rally before he was assaulted by his Persona wanting something.

Normally he'd have been able to hear what they were saying but with such a large amount saying different things it was difficult to decipher what they were trying to convey.

S..e h..!

Akira shook his head, in vain trying to dispel the quite literally mind-splitting migraine. Eventually, they began to quiet down, still restless and relentless but they were no longer trying to split his mind in half.

"What the hell is going on…?" Akira muttered as he massaged his temples. He leaned back in the interior courtyard, trying to keep watch as in the corner of his eye he saw Ryuji and Rem talk again by the vending machines, and judging by the fact he could partially hear them from over thirty feet away they hadn't given his advice from the day prior any thought.

Students all around were eyeing Rem, her reputation as the criminal transfer student meant that everyone would keep an eye out for her whenever she was nearby. Some were doing it unconsciously, little things by making sure their backs weren't turned against her and keeping both Rem and Ryuji in their line of sight.

He watched as a familiar feline form evaded the field of vision of a couple of teachers before walking over to the two. Akira's heart clenched slightly causing him to close his eyes, his hand snaking to his pendant in comfort.

COLD

The Persona of the Magician Arcana within his mind fell silent, their roiling agitation ceasing as he placated them.

He watched as Morgana trotted up to the two, jumping onto the table and began scolding them.

"This is no time to be jokin' around!" he could hear Ryuji literally yell.

Akira's face disappeared into his hand, groaning. Now that he thought back on it, it was a miracle no one had cottoned on to their activities and what they'd gotten up to back in his own reality when for a large majority of the time; everyone in the Phantom Thieves was yelling.

Looking around though, Akira realised that most of the students pointedly looked away from the trio as they began to move, their eyes carefully averted from the 'criminal transfer student'. Maybe being a bad student had its own perks at times. Eventually, the three made their exit, presumably to head up to the roof and discuss about infiltrating Kamoshida's castle tomorrow.

A feeling deep in his bones caused a sweat to break on his brow before he wiped it away. Something was going to happen. He could feel it in his bones. And he couldn't remember a damn thing about what it could be.

"What is it?" Akira muttered as he got up and made his way to leave and go home. So far, he'd done a good job of keeping Goro unaware that he was going to school, and he wanted to keep it that way for now.

"So, I assume all of you know about the separation of powers? There are three branches in our government," Ushimaru talked behind his podium, Akira's focus waning as the Persona of the Lovers Arcana's were like a hurricane in his mind, tempestuous and fierce.

Akira winced in agony as he clasped at his temples in his seat. His own mind was being torn apart, different facets of himself trying to move in different directions.

"The National Diet is legislative, the Cabinet is executive, and the Supreme Court is the judiciary," Ushimaru continued speaking. "This division of power provides checks and balances, which ensures no one branch becomes unstoppable."

Akira barely noticed Morgana popping out of Rem's desk before each and every Persona of the Lover's Arcana rose up in unison and roared.

Save her!

Akira's table went flying against the wall as he shot out of the classroom.

How did he forget?

How in the hell did he forget about Shiho!?

"Sukukaja!" he hissed under his breath in the empty hallways, Ishtar empowering him with speed beyond all reason as he just about blurred through the school hallways, rushing up the stairwell. The moment he reached the rooftop door, he'd forgone using his hand and opted to use kick violently against the door handle.

*BANG!*

The door flew open, slamming against the wall.

Just beyond the fence, Akira could see Shiho standing there, just beyond the mesh-wire fence. She looked at him in surprise, turning her head to see him.

Her foot hit the air as she turned, standing on the edge of the ledge the moment she tried to turn and look behind her she'd forgotten there was nowhere to move in order to see over her shoulder.

She fell.

Shocked brown eyes looked at his grey.

Even with Sukukaja, Akira had barely made it in time jumping over the wire fence to snag her hand in his own. On this precarious ledge, he had to hold onto the fence with one hand and Shiho with the other.

Shiho looked up at him, eyes wide that someone had come. "Wh-What are you doing?"

Akira grunted, the metal beneath his fingers bending and biting into his flesh as he endeavoured to hold the two of them up. With Shiho dangling from his grasp he could feel the wire fence pull forward under their combined weight.

"L-Let me go! You'll get hurt too!" Shiho pleaded.

"I can't do that..." Akira whispered hoarsely, the Persona in his mind whirling with activity. He didn't get much of a choice, however, as the mesh wire's structural integrity failed to hold the weight of the two of them any longer. It bent beneath his grip, the thin metal warping as it pulled free from the rest of the fence.

The two fell.

In the heart-stopping moment where time flew to a standstill, Akira clutched Shiho in a tight hug against his chest, angling his back towards the ground with Shiho's head cradled in the crook between his neck and shoulder.

"Marakukaja…"

The two hit the ground with a thudding impact.