Rem watched as Ryuji visibly held himself back from destroying school property, his frustration palpable. It took Rem reminding herself that she was currently on probation to stop her from similarly doing anything rash. However, even with that piece of rationality keeping her from doing anything, it didn't stop the cold fury from bubbling beneath her breasts.

"We can't waste any time…" Ryuji muttered as he gave in and smashed his fist against the front of a vending machine, his frustration finally reaching its breaking point as the plexiglass rattled.

"Morgana, are you certain that we'd be able to change his heart?" Rem asked, exhaling through her nose as she emptied her headspace. The last few hours had been mentally taxing.

Between the fact that two students had been injured, one attempting suicide, and Kamoshida not caring for the fact he'd sexually assaulted a student leading to a suicide attempt; Rem could feel a weight of stress fall upon her shoulders. Add in the fact that after Ryuji had threatened him, Kamoshida had opted to expel the two of them and Mishima come the next faculty meeting, she was becoming much more amenable to the idea of going back into his castle and changing his distorted heart.

"Stealing his distorted desires will leave an empty void, meaning he'll be closer to a normal human being. The guilt of his crimes would quickly cause a change of heart," the black cat nodded before looking at both Ryuji and Rem seriously. "Doing this means that you've accepted the risk of causing a mental shutdown… are you certain this is the path you choose?" he asked, looking them deeply in the eyes.

Ryuji seemed to falter but soon looked at Morgana in determination. "Kamoshida caused Suzui-san to almost kill herself and if that guy from Rem's class hadn' been there…" Ryuji bit himself back, taking a visible inhale as a shuddering grimace ran through his body, "…we need to do this."

Morgana nodded and turned to Rem.

"And you?"

Rem nodded in assent, leaning back against a nearby pillar "We can't sit back and let him get away with this. I'm in agreement."

Morgana smiled. "Then it's settled, we'll go into his palace and steal his distorted desires!"

"By the way, is getting' rid of a palace hard?" Ryuji asked putting his hands into his pockets. "You've done this before, yeah?"

Morgana looked at him quizzically as much as a cat could with its limited facial muscles.

"When did I ever say that?"

"Eh…?" Ryuji let out a noise of surprise. "WHAT!? Were you just pretendin' to know?!"

Rem's hand flashed out slapping Ryuji across the back of his skull causing his hand to cradle the offending area. "Would it kill you to be a little quieter?" Rem hissed lowly making an obvious motion of looking around. "We aren't exactly in a private place at the moment."

"Is it true that you're getting expelled?"

The voice caught the trio by surprise. Rem and Ryuji whirled around to find Ann standing a few feet away, her blue eyes puffy and red. "Everyone's talking about it…"

"That asshole's at it again!" Rem heard Ryuji growled lowly but let it slide, instead, she moved slightly closer to Ann.

"How's Shiho and Kurusu-san?" Rem broached cautiously, that caution growing as she noticed Ann look to the side slightly, an unreadable emotion stuck in the depths of her blue orbs.

Ann looked at her and Ryuji for a long moment of silence.

"Whatever you're going to do to Kamoshida… I want in," she said, ignoring Rem's probing question and caused Rem and Ryuji to recoil in surprise but she continued onwards. "I can't just sit back and do nothing after what he did to Shiho!"

That unreadable emotion… Rem saw something dark in those blue orbs.

Something dark and seething, belying a recklessness and need for violence. It was darkness driven by anger and hate, blinding a person from what they'd do and clouding their mind. Rem had once seen that anger in her own eyes when she looked in the mirror following her arrest.

Rem couldn't allow that.

"I'm sorry, but we can't let that happen," Rem said crossing her arms beneath her chest. She could see as Ann visibly shook with ill-concealed rage.

"Why not?! He… what he did to Shiho!" Rem watched as Ann closed her eyes, small pinpricks of tears seeping from the corner of her puffy eyes.

She had to pin this before it got out of hand.

"What you want to do to Kamoshida… as you are, can you say it won't end with blood on your hands…?" Rem whispered, the words barely audible but they managed to reach Ann.

Rem's words caused the blonde to recoil, doubt and shocked surprise evident on her face.

"I-I wouldn't-" Ann stuttered but Rem cut her off.

"Until you can look Ryuji and me in the eye and tell us it won't… I'm not going to let you in on what we plan to do," Rem uncrossed her arms, her hands drifting into her pockets as she shook her head.

Ann looked at her for a moment, that darkness in her orbs subsiding for a moment as it gave way to uncertainty.

Ryuji and Rem watched as she ran away.

"…Man, am I glad that you told her off," she turned as Ryuji muttered scratching the back of his head. "If I'd said somethin' I'd probably have told her to butt out or somethin'. Besides we can't take her somewhere like Kamoshida's Palace."

"You're a good guy Ryuji," Rem smirked and patted him on the shoulder, "but your words with women need to be worked on. And that's not something I'm going to help you do."

"Hey, what's that supposed to mean?!" Ryuji yelped.

Rem withdrew her hand and shook her head in amusement before looking at Morgana. "It's time we take care of the king."

As they exited the academy and moved to the shady alleyway just opposite to it, none of the trio noticing as a bushy-haired pigtailed blond following the two. They didn't notice as she spied them talking to each other about entering Kamoshida's palace.

As the world distorted and the sky ran red like blood, they were unpleasantly surprised to find that Ann had followed them through to the Palace, having to quickly usher her out before she could get hurt. It was even more unpleasant to find out that Ann had somehow let herself back in and had gotten herself captured by Kamoshida's guards and was to be summarily executed.

They were more pleasantly surprised when it turned out that Ann had the same potential as Rem and Ryuji of awakening to a Persona and even more so when she was the one doing the hurting with large gouts of flames with Carmen on hand.

The four quickly had to vacate the Palace with Ann being unused to her Persona and catching her up to speed. Rem found herself internally hesitant as she explained exactly what Kamoshida's palace was.

She did get a Confidant link though, so that was nice.

The following day Rem found herself shocked to find a familiar head of black frizzy hair sitting at the counter of Leblanc, casually sipping coffee and eating some curry for breakfast.

Clad in a pair of jeans, a grey blazer and white undershirt and a casual pair of nice leather shoes sat Akira Kurusu.

"Isn't that Kurusu?" Morgana hissed in her travel bag, shifting as he tried to get a better look at the teen. "Shouldn't he be in hospital?!"

"Oh?" Kurusu let out a mutter of surprise as he looked up from his coffee and Rem found herself into grey eyes, "I'd forgotten you moved in here, Amamiya-san," he said, taking another bite of his curry and polishing it off.

"Shouldn't you should be in the hospital?" Rem asked bluntly, looking at the teen who visibly winced.

"What?" Sojiro whirled around from his place at the stove, looking at Rem and Kurusu. "You bothering my customers' brat? And what did you mean by hospital?"

Rem winced. She hadn't realised Sojiro had been listening but was saved as Kurusu shook his head. "Sorry, Sakura-san, we just go to the same school. We're actually in the same class."

Sojiro just stared at him for a moment before sighing. "Brat, if you're going to lie, at least make it believable. You haven't gone to school a single day in the two years I've known you."

Rem rose a brow. "But he goes to Shujin as well."

Sojiro made a disbelieving sound, making a very obvious look at Rem's uniform and Kurusu's lack of one.

"If they made him go to school after yesterday, I'd be surprised," Rem turned to Sojiro subsequently causing her to miss the slightly frantic look that entered Kurusu's eyes, his hand waving in a cutting motion to his throat.

"He jumped off the school rooftop to save a student," Rem told Sojiro having completely missed Kurusu's hand signals. "The ambulance took him to the hospital so I'm surprised he's even up."

Kurusu's hand motions fell slack as Sojiro whirled around on him with a look as if he'd caught him red-handed midway through his coffee beans. "So… you want to explain brat?"

"Uh… surprise?" Kurusu said lamely, wincing even further as Sojiro's expression became like bedrock.

"I… may or may not have applied for Shujin after the accident last month to take some time to recover," Kurusu said to Sojiro. "And yesterday… I… may or may not have fallen off the academy rooftop to save a student trying to commit suicide…" Kurusu finished sheepishly, Sojiro's face turning severe.

Rem and Morgana watched the two and their conversation as if it was a tennis match.

"You mean to tell me… after getting hit by a truck and shattering several of your ribs into powder… you go and get yourself into another accident?!" Sojiro's yell shook the firmament, Rem and Morgana recoiling while Kurusu winced.

"That first time wasn't voluntary on my part!" Kurusu retorted lamely before realising what that implied.

"So, you decide to get yourself into another accident full-well knowing that you're still recovering?" Sojiro asked rhetorically, "What about your injuries? What aren't you in hospital?!"

Kurusu avoided Sojiro's stare shiftily. "I… might have convinced my doctor to let me go a day early… their coffee is terrible."

Rem stayed dutifully quiet as a throbbing vein pulsed on Sojiro's temple. "And… they just allowed that?" he hissed.

"Aside from severe bruising and some fractured ribs, it's nothing that wouldn't be healed if I take it easy," Kurusu looked at him and shrugged, "Doctor Hisegawa prescribed me with enough medication to keep the pain bearable and some compression wrapping to support my ribs while they heal. He told me not to do anything physically demanding for the day. Also means I can relax tomorrow since it's a Sunday."

Kurusu lifted his shirt slightly to prove his point, several layers of compression wrap around his torso. It also allowed Rem a glimpse of the bruising that had only gotten worse after yesterday.

Sojiro stared the teen down before letting out a loud sigh of aggravated frustration. "If you think for a single moment I'm going to let you leave my café in that state you're dead wrong, sit your ass down in the booth brat," he ordered, shuffling the frizzy black-haired teen into the said booth before looking at Rem.

"Don't you have a train to catch?"

Rem was out of the café, a final glimpse of Sojiro ushering Kurusu onto the bench seats as she left before running for the last train to Aoyama-Itchome before the school gates closed. She was slightly annoyed when she found herself accidentally crashing into a brown-haired teen holding a metal briefcase as she got off the train at Aoyama.

"Oh, I'm sorry about that," the teen apologised with a charming smile as she pushed herself off the floor. "I was looking around for where I need to go but I can't seem to fin- Oh… you attend Shujin Academy?"

Rem looked at the teen and found him staring at the Shujin emblem on her breast. He suddenly realised exactly where he was looking when Rem gave a warning cough.

"My apologies," the teen apologised once more with that damningly charming smile on his face. "If I may, would it be alright if I follow you? The place I'm actually looking for is Shujin Academy. I need to have a talk with the Principal about an incident that occurred yesterday."

Rem looked at him for a moment, a fine black eyebrow rising before she slowly nodded her head, passing by the teen and making her way to school with still enough time before the gates closed.

That was how Rem found herself leading the brown-haired teen to Shujin, the eyes of the student body following her and gawking as she did so. Eventually, the two arrived, Rem rushing inside leaving the brown-haired teen at the entrance as homeroom classes started.

Akechi allowed a sick grin to make its way into his mind as he looked up at Shujin Academy, blood pumping through his veins and beneath his skin as he stared at the granite-grey building.

He could feel as Loki thirst for blood and Robin Hood for justice. In his grasp, the briefcase in his hands felt unnaturally light due to adrenaline but he nonetheless knew that it held his pistol in its depths.

He walked up the steps of the academy and entered the foyer.

Akechi immediately caught the attention of a teacher with frizzy brown hair wearing a yellow long-sleeved shirt and a blue denim skirt holding a stack of papers and looking like she hadn't gotten a good night's sleep for the last two days.

"Excuse me, can I help you?" the woman asked with palpable exhaustion, trying to hide it behind a veneer of politeness but failed.

Goro withdrew his police badge and identification causing the woman's eyes to shoot open stunned. "My name is Goro Akechi. I'm a detective with the National Police Agency, stationed at the Shibuya Precinct," Goro stated succinctly before stashing away his badge/identification now that he had the woman's full attention.

"O-Oh! I didn't know that there was going to be an investigation…" the woman said, her voice trailing away tinged with panic but Goro waved her off.

"Actually, this is more of a personal investigation. I have a relationship with one of the students injured in the attempted suicide incident that occurred yesterday morning," he explained professionally.

Goro found himself being placed under a scrutinizing gaze by the bushy-haired teacher. "Would that be Kurusu-san?" she asked eventually, hesitantly almost.

Goro nodded.

"That would be correct, Akira and I live together. When I received a call saying that he'd been injured preventing an attempted suicide then visiting him at the hospital, I've made it a priority to submit an investigation into the incident. Unofficial, of course," Goro said with a polite but if one looked closely, thin smile. Beneath his gloves, one would've been able to see as his knuckles were clenched white with how tightly they were clutching his briefcase in front of him.

"Would you be able to lead me to the Principal of Shujin? I'd like to discuss with him yesterday's incident," Goro asked, the frizzy-haired woman nodding quickly. If he hadn't known any better, he'd have thought she wanted to help but he knew she only wanted for the problem to be shifted to someone else.

"Of course. If you'd follow me Akechi-san," the teacher said civilly before spinning on her heel. It didn't take long before the two were in front of the principal's office as it had turned out that it was on the ground floor.

"Principal Kobayakawa?" the teacher knocked twice before waiting, the two listening as there was a frantic shuffling of papers.

"Come in!" a male voice called out.

The teacher just let out a sigh as she looked at Goro before opening the door to allow him entry. As Goro entered he found himself finding a man that would have looked as if he'd had a close resemblance to a figure from the English nursery rhyme of 'Humpty Dumpty'.

Loki crowed with unfettered glee as Kobayakawa's gaze locked on him, his skin turning a sickly pallor of ashen white as their eyes met. Small beads of sweat bloomed on the fat man's temple, rivulets falling down his cheek and dropping from his chin.

Good. That meant he knew exactly who he was.

Goro moved in a way that he blocked the female teacher's view of the principal. If it had been possible, Kobayakawa turned even paler.

"Principal Kobayakawa, may I take my leave? I still have homeroom to attend and I'm late as it is," the female asked tiredly, not bothering to look over Goro's shoulder.

Goro gave a warning smile and a small nod. Kobayakawa gulped.

"Of course, Miss Kawakami!" he all but yelped, and before long Goro heard the teacher's footsteps echoing from down the hall and eventually disappearing altogether.

"U-Uh… H-How can I help y-you, Akechi-" he cut himself short as Goro turned around and slowly, deliberately closed the door with his right hand.

Goro's grip in his briefcase fell as his left swiftly unlocked it, pulled out the silenced pistol hidden within and fired in rapid succession. The briefcase landed shut and the pistol's barrel let out thin wafting trails of smoke, all within the time it took for Goro to close the door and lock the doorknob.

Turning around, he allowed a demented grin to splay across his face as he looked at Kobayakawa. Eight small bullet holes pierced the leather seat around the Principal's head, tiny black holes barely scant millimetre's off from piercing his skull.

Goro slowly stalked forward, purposefully ejecting the now-empty clip of his pistol, pocketing the emptied magazine and withdrawing a loaded one before slamming it into his pistol and pulling back the receiver. The sound of a bullet loading into the chamber of the gun almost reverberated in the now silent room, the Principal quaking beneath his skin, sweat pouring down his skin as he soaked his brown rotund suit.

In a few steps, Goro was lying his pistol beneath Kobayakawa's chin as he sat on the nice wooden and polished desk, tilting him upwards and forcing him to look at him in the eyes.

"I… am quite displeased with you," Goro purred, the fat man continuing to sweat with the threat of his brain matter being exploded across the back of his expensive leather chair.

"Wh-what's the m-meaning of this? I haven't d-done anything wrong," the Humpty-Dumpty lookalike stammered in fearful confusion. "I've done everything that Shido-san has asked- hrrk!" he gulped, shouting his mouth as the silencer digging into his chin dug just a little bit further.

"This… has nothing to do with Shido," Goro leaned forward, burgundy-red eyes glinting as Loki leeched on his unhinged wrath. Robin Hood stayed quiet, silent and watching as personal justice was placed forth, but secretly, it stood over a small piece of thought. Barely anything worth notice but Robin Hoos stood over it vigilantly, Loki distracted as it continued to leech and increase Goro's wrath.

"Th-then wha- eep!" Kobayakawa tried to ask but Goro simply dug a little further, his silenced pistol digging beneath his jawbone and placing itself directly underneath his jaw, pointing directly upwards.

"Ah-ah, I didn't say you could talk," he tutted, the man beneath him quivering.

"I am very very disappointed with you," Goro repeated as he looked the egg-shaped man- no, that would be an insult to eggs. "It's very frustrating to get a call in the middle of work to say that the only person I care about in this damned world got himself injured in your school."

Kobayakawa's eyes traded fearful confusion for fearful realisation.

"You see, I wasn't aware that Akira had enrolled in this school. So it's extremely unpleasant to find out that he'd injured himself saving one of your students from killing herself," Goro said as he shook his head. "Don't misunderstand, I don't care that one of your students tried to kill herself. She's not my problem."

Goro continued speaking. "What's been done to her, however? I do many things and killing is one of them, but sexual abuse? On a minor?"

Kobayakawa shut his eyes as the pistol was slowly removed and it was instead moved to his forehead, the cold metal of the silencer pressing against his skin.

Goro leaned next to his ear and hissed, "Even I have lines I won't cross."

"Add to that, after a bit of research in police files of submitted cases of physical and sexual abuse submitted in regards to a certain teacher and finding that they'd all been ignored under your insistence," Goro hiss turned into a growl, "I am very displeased."

"And that's ignoring the fact that because you couldn't keep your pet mongrel on a leash, Akira had to save one of your students from killing herself. Allow me to make one thing clear, Shido may still have use for you but I have never had any," Goro dug the pistol forward, pushing the fat man's head against the chair of his leather. Two beady eyes looked upwards cross-eyed in fear.

"Keep your mongrel on a tighter leash or you'll quickly finding yourself without any use," Goro growled but all the same allowed a fake saccharine sweet smile to cross his face.

"Am I clear?"

Kobayakawa's quick squeaky nod was his answer, flabs of skin and fat waving as rivulets of sweat flew through the air. His brown suit was stained a darker brown from the nervous sweat.

"I'm glad we've come to an understanding," Goro smiled as he withdrew his pistol, the man sagging in his chair in relief.

Goro ignored him as he turned around and picked up his briefcase and unlocking it. Quietly, he unscrewed the silencer and ejected the magazine clip before flipping on the safety switch before storing them all underneath his files and laptop. He shut his briefcase with a click.

He turned to look at Kobayakawa one last time.

"If any harm comes to Akira in this godforsaken school… I won't be coming back. I'll simply ensure you fall dead like every other person I've killed," he smiled darkly as Kobayakawa began to hyperventilate.

Goro flicked the lock on the door open and exited the room. All too soon he found himself on the front steps of Shujin Academy. A small smile graced his features, unlike the dark and twisted ones from earlier this one was closer to a smirk.

Doing all of that in the real world… of his own volition, without Loki or Robin Hood to influence his decision, only the two accepting his choice. It was liberating. He'd done it because he wanted to, not because his Persona had controlled his emotions.

It was almost embarrassing that he had a slight spring in his step as he made his way back to Aoyama station, having memorized on the way to the school when he'd followed that braided hair girl in the morning. Looking at his phone he realised it was actually closer to lunchtime.

Akira had said he'd be staying in that café he liked to frequent for the majority of the day, electing to leave the hospital no matter how much Doctor Hisegawa or Goro advised otherwise. He'd stated he'd rather be having some good coffee and not the dirt water served in the hospital cafeteria.

Goro shook his head at the thought of his friend. He was always so picky with his coffee, it was a miracle that there was a café that met his wants.

Gurgle

Goro looked down at his stomach.

Hmm… Maybe some coffee and curry wouldn't be a bad idea before he returned to the precinct. He had cited to his teacher that he'd be taking the day off so there wasn't too much harm in getting some lunch before work.

With his destination in mind, Goro stowed away his phone into his pocket and made his way to Aoyama station for Yongen.

Unbeknownst to him, in his pocket, a certain app with a black eye and red background opened.

Text scrolled across the screen.

Shujin Academy.

Pervert.

Castle.

Beginning navigation.

Goro still made his way to the station. In his pocket, the app on his phone flashed before a new line of text appeared.

Navigation cancelled. Palace out of range.

Goro continued on unaware.

Rem sighed as she returned back to Leblanc, a bunch of dubious drugs and model guns hidden away in her bag, Morgana sitting on top of them being careful not to break them. After meeting up yesterday, the four of them with the inclusion of Ann since she'd awaken to her Persona, had agreed it was better to prepare before they re-entered the palace.

That was how yesterday she'd found herself lying to the back-alley doctor of Yongen-Jaya, Tae Takemi, that she'd needed medicines for her exams and studying. The two had come to an agreement that in exchange for medicine, Rem would be Tae's medical guinea pig.

Rem knew that Tae knew that she'd been lying. She was a horrendous liar at times, but it seemed Tae hadn't cared all that much. She wasn't sure who'd gotten the most out of that deal between the two of them. It was a nice bonus, however, when she'd unlocked the Death Arcana with her.

Today, she'd gone with Ryuji to a back-alley store in Shibuya called Untouchables, an airsoft shop with some suspiciously hyper-realistic guns. Unfortunately, since they were fresh faces, the surly manager of the shop had only given the two access to some of his more basic stock. Rem had a feeling that they'd still be more than viable for use in Kamoshida's palace.

She had a feeling that the surly airsoft shop owner would be helpful one day; it wasn't a feeling based on logic but more in… instinct, she supposed? Rem shook her head as she returned to the here and now.

She'd tuned out the conversation between a haughty regular of Leblanc and Sojiro, eventually the haughty regular leaving and Sojiro closing shop for the night. Rem herself retiring to the attic.

Ting-a-ling

Rem rose a brow as she placed her carry bag to the side, Morgana leaping out. The black cat began stowing away the model weapons and medicine on questionable legality into the small cupboard adjacent to the stairs and out of view while Rem withdrew her vibrating phone from her pocket.

She noticed it was a text from Ann.

Ann: So, I went to see Shiho in the hospital again today… Kurusu-san wasn't there anymore.

Rem: I know, I saw him at a café in Yongen yesterday

Rem: He seemed fine all things considered but he's still recovering.

Rem: How's Shiho?

Ann: Her condition is stable.

Ann: Doctor Hisegawa said it looked like another week or two before she's conscious.

Rem rubbed her temples as she thought about the black-haired volleyball player.

Rem: You need to trust that she'll come through.

Ann: Yeah.

Ann: She'll get better, I just need to believe in her.

Ann: But… I'll never forgive Kamoshida. He's going to pay for what he did, no matter what.

And here was the crux of the problem. As much as Rem wanted Ann to join her, Ryuji, and Morgana, Ann simply wasn't in the right headspace. Every now and then, Rem could still see flashes of darkness in her orbs, something violent and vicious.

With what they were planning on doing, Rem wasn't comfortable with that.

But in the end, more help was better than ending up dead because she was being picky. But that didn't mean that Rem wouldn't be drawing a line on their actions.

Rem: If you go too far, I will stop you.

Rem: We aren't murderers. I won't let you be one either.

Rem waited for a few moments, but after several seconds of receiving no reply, she stowed her phone away with a sigh.

"We're heading into the palace tomorrow, so let's get some sleep."

Rem rolled her eyes but nonetheless followed Morgana's urgings.