April 12th: Tuesday
Time: After School
Location: Other Kamoshida's Castle
They stopped once they reached the door to the main hall of the castle and since there were no guards left after they dispatched the few in and around this area, they had time to breathe. And after what they saw, they really needed it…
"All that shit… Kamoshida put those guys through," Kyotaro brought a hand to his forehead. He looked over to Ryuji, the blonde still had his jaw clenched and his sharp gaze was lowered to the ground.
They had to watch Kamoshida's 'slaves' be tortured; the whipping, having them run without a drop of water and seeing them being fired upon with cannons. The worst part was, these were all methods of Kamoshida's training– Just heavily exaggerated but that didn't make it any less cruel. These were high school students, not machines!
"It's so… Fucked up! He's doing the exact same shit, like before!" Ryuji cursed with a venom-laced voice, causing the three beside him to flinch at the volume of his voice.
"Ryuji, I know you're upset– but we can't afford to be loud." Akira attempted to calm the blonde as they passed through the door that led to the great hall– He had his brow raised at the mention of the teacher doing this before but he bit his tongue, right now they just needed to get out of here. He placed a hand on his shoulder with a confident nod, "We'll find a way to stop this, just keep those faces memorized."
Morgana joined the conversation with a tap of his foot in a restless manner, "Let's get to the exit THEN we can focus on whatever else…"
The three of them nodded and began running up the stairs but once they did make it into the hall, they were met with that other Kamoshida with a guard in golden armor alongside the normal ones from before.
He spat out, "...You knaves again? You're lucky that my guards were too braindead to catch you pests, but I'll solve that problem once I deal with this infestation before me."
"Psh! The school ain't your castle! I've memorized their faces real good. You're goin' down!" Ryuji gave a wry smile at the prospects of Kamoshida's downfall, but the king seemed to be unfazed by this– in fact, he seemed to be amused by his bravado.
"It seems it's true when they say "barking dogs seldom bite". How far the star runner of the track team has fallen." Kamoshida cackled as he rubbed his chin, Ryuji staggered back at his last sentence but he bit back with a growl.
"The hell are you getting at?!"
"I speak of the "Track Traitor" who acted in violence, ending his teammates' dreams. Oh, I can only imagine the pain of the others who were dragged under with your… selfish act." He added in a pause just to rub salt in the wound, Ryuji visibly flinched and his jaw was tightened.
"Track traitor? Ryuji, what's he talking about?" Akira asked the boy in front of him, the blonde's words failed him– much to the amusement of Kamoshida.
"What a surprise. So you're accompanying him without knowing anything at all? He betrayed his teammates and crushed their hopes, yet he still carries on as carefree as ever."
"That's not true! I–"
"You've come along with these fools and are now going to end up dead." With a snap of his fingers, the shorter guards to his right transformed into large dark horned horses. "...How unlucky of you. Go. Kill them all. Don't sully my castle with garbage."
"Damn it, Ryuji! Get back!" Morgana demanded the blonde, who did so reluctantly as the three persona users stepped forth.
Kyotaro called forth his mysterious persona with an aura of blue surrounding him, the lanky figure pressed its feet against the creature's charging horns as it floated in midair but his persona was outmatched– the demon horse tossed the dark figure aside and knocked the ringmaster-like boy down.
Akira was caught off-guard once he noticed Kyotaro had fallen, allowing himself to be knocked down as well before he could summon Arsene.
Morgana didn't fare much better, he had Zorro desperately fired bursts of wind but the demons were too strong to be fazed by his attacks. And he too was ultimately knocked down with a ram of the horns.
"Rgh… You piece of– Ugh!" Morgana was cut off when Kamoshida placed his foot on top of his small body, using him much like a doormat as he looked over to Ryuji with a wry smile.
"I bet you just rushed in here, guns blazing and expected to take me down. Didn't you?" He raised his nose and mused with a smug voice, "What a worthless piece of trash, getting emotional so quickly… How dare you raise your hand at me. Though it was only temporary, have you forgotten my kindness in supervising track practice?"
"It wasn't practice!– It was just physical abuse! You just didn't like our team!" He attempted to defend himself but he couldn't help but collapse to the ground in his rush of anger.
"It was nothing but an eyesore! The only one who needs to achieve results is me! That coach who got fired was hopeless too… Had he not opposed me with a sound argument, I would've settled it with only breaking his star's leg."
Bastard…
"Do you need me to deal with your other leg too? The school will call it self-defense anyway!" Ryuji sank further, there was no way to stop him. No matter what he did, Kamoshida was just gonna make his life worse.
"Am I really gonna lose again…?" His voice began to crack, his eyes began welling up. "Not only can I not run anymore… the track team is gone too 'cause of this asshole…!"
"Hey… Don't feel too bad." Kamoshida's shit-eating grin grew larger as he saw the former track-star so downtrodden. "Once I'm done with your friends here, I'll free you from your misery."
"N-No…" Ryuji tried lifting his head as he weakly raised a hand in protest.
"Damn it, Ryuji! Don't take this shit!" Akira shouted in a powerful voice, the blonde's head shot up to see the raven-haired teen's intense face. He demanded of him, "If he knocks you down, get back up and hit him back harder! Stand up for yourself!"
"I… I… You're right…" Ryuji slowly raised himself off the floor with fists clenched, he growled as his nails dug into his palms. "He took everything from me, I'll never get it back if I just sit down and take it!"
"Stay there and watch." Kamoshida tilted his head with his wide smile still on his face. "Look on as these hopeless scum die for nothing because they sided with trash like you."
"Scum… The only scum here is you, you son of a bitch!" He slowly raised his arm as he continued in his venomous speech, "All you think about is using people… You're nothing but a scumbag!"
Ryuji jabbed a finger towards the shitbag of a king as if to strike him down where he stood, "Stop looking down on me with that STUPID SMILE ON YOUR FACE!"
…
"You had me wait quite a while…"As a voice in his head mused, Ryuji's vision was enveloped in a screen of red and he felt a sharp pain in his skull. He grasped the side of his head in a desperate attempt to soothe the torment in his head, Ryuji dropped to the ground as salvia spilled out from his mouth.
"You seek power, correct? Then let us form a pact… Since your name has been disgraced already, why not hoist the flag and wreak havoc…? The "other you" who exists within desires it thus…"Kamoshida and his men staggered a bit as Ryuji convulsed in his pain while the three pinned to the ground waited in anticipation for the tables to turn.
Unlike the ones bound to this castle, they could hear the voice that resembled Ryuji's.
"I am Thou, Thou art I… There is no turning back…" He raised his head to the golden guard that looked upon him without any hesitation as it held Akira down with its foot, revealing a dark gray skull mask that appeared onto his face in a flash of blue. "The skull of rebellion is your flag henceforth!"
"So what can you do?" The shadow taunted Ryuji as he raised himself up off the floor, it lifted its sword in a threat. "Cower in fear and watch!"
"Ngh…" He began pulling at the sides of his mask, blood slowly drew from his tearing before he tore it off with one painful rip. "Hraaaaghhh!"
His body was consumed in a pillar of blue flames that blew back the guards, freeing his companions who held onto the floor so that they too wouldn't get pushed away. Once the fire began dying down, it revealed Ryuji in a new outfit with his head down and another figure floating behind him.
He was dressed in a black leather jacket with a popped collar, matching black pants with knee pads, a red ascot tied tightly around his neck, and a pair of yellow gloves with steel knuckles.
As for the figure behind him, it was a skeletal pirate that floated on top of a small ship with a cartoonishly evil face drawn onto the front. It had a cannon for a right arm and on its chest were two cutlasses with it's blades to its neck.
Ryuji lifted his head up to reveal a mischievous smirk, he began admiring his new power as Kamoshida gritted his teeth. "Right on! Wassup Persona! This effin' rocks!"
His three companions moved over to stand beside him as he faced the shadows with an eager roll of his shoulders. Akira looked over to him with a smirk, "So, you wanna take the lead on this one?"
"Hell yeah! It's time I pay these bastards back!" The bicorns from before trotted over beside their golden captain, the head shadow burst into a mess of red and black and transformed into a red knight with horns on top of a black horse.
Ryuji only laughed at the challenge before him. He pointed a finger towards the direction of one of the bicorn and called for his persona to attack, "Blast em' away! Captain Kidd!"
The pirate fired a ball of electricity into the air which then proceeded to turn into a stream of lightning that struck the monster, knocking it down.
"Kamoshida's cognition ain't changin', right? Then I'll act like the troublemaker I am!" The thug-like boy pumped his fist as the other three persona users stalled the demons in place with their firearms, allowing Ryuji to knock them down like the first– leaving the guard captain the only one standing.
"Nice one, Ryuji!" Kyotaro gave him a thumbs up to which the blonde had mirrored back to him. With a rub of his nose, the ringmaster had called forth his persona in aid. "Here's something to help you take that guy down, Tarukaja!" The mysterious figure summoned a flash of red to envelop the thug-like boy.
"Whoa-ho! Thanks, Kyo!" Ryuji felt his body grow more weight to it and his muscles and focus tensed as he surged with this energy, he gave another thumbs-up to Kyotaro before turning his attention back to the captain– who was being stalled by Akira and Morgana.
With another blast of lightning, the monster was knocked down like its allies. Which meant one thing left to do…
"Hell yeah! All-out Attack!" At Ryuji's call, the four of them leaped into the air and began striking the four monsters in a shower of attacks.
Ryuji landed on his face but he quickly picked himself up and gave a devil horn gesture with a large grin on his face as the shadows had geysers of their blood spurt out of them. A vibrant background appeared behind him with large lettering in bright green and yellow,
FREAKiN' BoRiNG
"Ha… Ha… How 'bout that?" Ryuji smirked in between his gasps for breath, he had his hands on his knees as he faced Kamoshida. "Even if you start apologizing… I ain't forgivin' you!"
Kamoshida was unfazed by the newest persona user, he scoffed as he raised an arm out. "I told you that this is my castle. It seems you still don't understand…"
A girl with platinum blonde hair tied into two bushy pig-tails dressed in a purple bikini, heels, and cat ears stepped up to the pervy king and looked over to the four of them with a smug smile. Ryuji flinched in surprise, "Wh– T-Takamaki?!"
"N-no way! Is she… a cognition?" Kyotaro guessed with an uncertain voice, he felt his chest burn as he saw the girl so… scantily clad– she had to be fake but he couldn't help but look away.
But Morgana had some differing opinions on the matter, the cat creature was busy drooling over the girl as his eyes were glued onto her exposed form. "Wha… What a meow-velous and beautiful girl!"
"Dude, seriously?" Kyotaro scoffed, the cat still drooled over the image of the girl with Akira shaking his head with a sigh.
"As I said before," Kamoshida sniggered as he rubbed the cognitive Takamaki's chin, the girl purred and swayed her head much like a cat at his touch. "This is MY castle‒a place in which I can do whatever I want. Everyone wishes to be loved by me. ...That is, everyone besides slow-witted thieves like you."
The skull-faced boy hissed at the pervy son of a bitch, "Let her go, you F–"
"Ryuji, she isn't real!" Morgana reminded the bleach blonde, causing him to hold himself back.
"Are you jealous?" Kamoshida taunted as his fingers made his way to her chest, causing Ryuji to bare his teeth at the king. "Well, I'm not surprised. Women aren't drawn to problematic punks like you."
With a snap of his fingers, Kamoshida summoned three more of his guards that appeared in a haze of red. He ordered as the fake Takamaki rubbed her hand against his chest, "Clean up this infestation this instant!"
Damn, they were too wiped out to get into another fight. Kyotaro called out, "We gotta go!"
"We seriously gonna run away?!" Ryuji gritted his teeth in frustration as he looked over to Kamoshida's devilish grin.
Akira grabbed him by the shoulder and told him with a tense voice, "If we stay here, we're dead."
"Ngh, fine… I get it…" He aimed his sharp glare towards the king, jabbed a finger towards him, and bellowed. "We'll expose what you really are, no matter what! You better be ready for us…!"
"Hahaha! I was beginning to get bored of torturing the ones here! Come at me whenever you want, if you don't care about your life! Hahahahahaha!"
"Just ignore him, let's go!"
The four of them made their way out of the castle, they went through the vent like last time they escaped. They had to be quick about as well, the guards chased after them for a bit but with a few well-placed misdirections– they were able to get them off their trails.
"We got away…" Ryuji smirked in between his gasps for air, but he had reeled back in surprise at his change of costume. "Huh? I don't remember changin' into this!"
"Seriously?" Kyotaro rubbed the back of his neck as Ryuji examined his new threads, "How could you not notice the whole 'thug' thing?"
"Thug? At least I look better than you two!" Ryuji laughed as he flicked his collar, the two shrugged and shook their heads in disagreement. They just couldn't see what was wrong with their attire… The newest persona user once again began inspecting his costume, "I don't understand how these threads just appeared, and… is this a skull?"
"As I said before– when a Persona-user opposes a Palace's ruler and becomes a threat to them, this happens. It's to prevent you from being affected by distortions." Morgana explained to the blonde, but Ryuji only gave him a blank stare as he continued. " Your appearance reflects your inner self. It's the rebel that slumbers within… Not that you'll get it."
"...Nope."
"Then stop asking questions and accept what you see for what it is."
"Easy for you to say." Ryuji paused for a moment before giving a deep gasp as his eyes widened in shock. "Wait, we're in deep shit!"
"Quiet!" Morgana hissed, if they weren't careful then more of those guards would have shown up.
"We might've gotten away here, but we're still screwed with Kamoshida at the real school…"
"How observant!" The cat paused for a moment with a small smirk on his face. "For an idiot… Relax. The Kamoshida in reality can't possibly know about what happens here. A Shadow is the true self that is suppressed–a side of one's personality they don't want to see."
"Right… Kamoshida was fairly normal at school, still a condescending prick but he wasn't screeching for our heads." Kyotaro looked over to Ryuji and Akira, the three Shujin students shared simultaneous nods at the confirmation of their safety.
"All right! Now that we know that, all we gotta do is–"
"Wait. I guided you as promised." Morgana brought their attention to him as he announced with a raise of his paw. "It's your turn to cooperate with me. That's why I was super nice about teaching you idiots everything."
"Ah, well aren't you a peach…" Kyotaro deadpanned with a blank face.
"Don't you remember? I originally came here for an investigation. I need to erase the distortion from my body and regain my real form! That's why we must delve deep into Mementos and–"
"Whoa, hold up! What are you going on about? We never said anything about helpin' you out!" Ryuji shook his head as he dug his hands into his pocket.
Kyotaro rubbed the back of his neck with a sigh, "Sorry cat, we got our own problems to solve."
"Huh? Don't tell me… Are you not going to repay the hospitality I showed you?" He looked over to Akira with pleading eyes, "Especially you! You're going to up and leave, even though you're already part of my master plan!?"
"Yeah, I don't remember you mentioning anything about a plan." Akira shrugged as he dug his hands into the pockets of his coat, "Next time, drop it by me before you go and assume I'll be a part of it…"
"I… You…." The cat fell to his knees as he began choking up, "Is it because I'm not human…? Because I'm like a cat…? Is that why you're making a fool of me!?"
"We're busy! Thanks for everything, cat. You've got guts, bein' a cat and all! See you around!" The three began running over to the front of the castle as they waved Morgana goodbye.
"Hey! What the hell!? Ugh, seriously! Why're you wrapping this up like everything's hunky-dory!?" Morgana picked himself up to see the three pass through the distortion field and disappear in a ripple.
"Oh hell no! Get back here! Grr… GRR AAAAGHH!"
April 12th: Tuesday
Time: After School
Location: Aoyama-Itchome
"You have returned to the real world, welcome back." Akira's phone rang out in that monotone voice as the three of them were gasping for breath.
"And thank God for that…" Kyotaro said in between his panting as he laid his back against the wall of the alleyway.
"Yeah, I dragged you guys around a lot, huh? ...Sorry, guys. Ugh, I'm dead tired… How you holdin' up?" Ryuji gave a weary smile as he looked over to his two companions.
"I really use a nap right now." Akira rubbed the side of his head and sighed with Kyotaro weakly nodding his head behind him.
"Same here… Man, I'm gonna sleep like a rock when I get home." Ryuji's gaze tensed a bit and he began gnawing at his bottom lip, "But damn, if what we saw was for real, this is gonna get good! I totally remember the faces of the guys Kamoshida was treatin' like slaves. Once we make 'em fess up to any physical abuse, Kamoshida will be done. So… wanna help me look for those guys or any witnesses?"
"Considering what we saw today? I can't just pretend that didn't happen, and I won't let it continue so long as I have the power to do something."
"Preachy much?" Kyotaro chuckled at Akira's determination, to which the curly-haired transfer gave him a slight stink eye in response. But both Ryuji and Akira's eyes lingered on him for a bit, causing him to shrink where he stood. He ultimately gave a shrug in response, "Alright, I'll tag along…"
"Nice! Thanks, you guys…" Ryuji clapped his hands onto his shoulders with a smile, "I'm countin' on you! With us three on the case, Kamoshida doesn't stand a chance!"
Akira smiled at Ryuji's eager attitude, something about the bleach blonde just gave him this air of cheer. He could feel this… bond of trust forming with him.
I am thou, Thou art I
Thou hast established a new vow
It shall become the wings of rebellion
That breaketh thy chains of captivity
With the birth of the Chariot Persona,
I have obtained the winds of blessing that shall lead to freedom and a new power
The chariot… Ryuji was another confidant…
"Dude… I'm starving." Ryuji whined as he held his stomach that growled for something to devour. He looked at both Akira and Kyotaro expectantly, "I haven't eaten anything since lunch and it'd be weird splittin' off now, so why don't we grab a bite somewhere?"
"What are we takin' a bite of?"
"Beef bowls! But uh… do you guys mind paying for your own meals? I only have enough cash to feed myself…" Ryuji awkwardly laughed as he rubbed the back of his neck, the two shared an unimpressed look before shrugging in acceptance. The blonde cheered, "Nice! Just follow me, I know a good place." He looked over to Akira, "And when we get there, how about you tell me about your past?"
"Past…" Akira clicked his tongue hearing that, he gave a hefty sigh before looking at Kyotaro. "Alright, I guess I can get it off my chest. But I wanna know what you and Kamoshida were talking about, that deal you guys had or whatever…"
Kyotaro flinched back in surprise but he gave a weary nod at his request, "I… I guess I'm fine with that, I think I should talk to someone about this as well."
TAKE YOUR TIME
"The hell, man! How much shittier can that asshole get!?"
"Ryuji, calm down. We're in a public place…" Kyotaro pinched his nose with his free hand as he noticed that several eyes were on them.
The three of them were at Ore No Beko, a beef bowl shop in Shibuya's central street, where they were on the subject of Akira's criminal record after Kyotaro spilled his guts about Kamoshida's attempts at getting money out of him. According to him, the transfer from Nikko was saving a woman from some drunk forcing himself on her. The drunk sued, he was charged for assault, and now he was here… What shitty situation with an even more shitty person that caused it.
"Sorry, it's just… If it was me, I wouldn't calm down until I punched that dick in the face."
"I've moved on from it…" Akira sighed and waved off. But the way his eyes were glazed over and cast to his bowl that was barely touched, he seemed to be more affected by it than he was trying to pass off. "My parents told me that there was nothing I could do in a situation like that and that I should have just got out of there. I honestly thought the same for a while but… I could never walk away from that."
"That sucks, so… you left your hometown, and… you're livin' here now, huh?" Ryuji rubbed the back of his neck, "We all might be more alike than I originally thought."
"Speak for yourself… I ain't no criminal!" Kyotaro announced in jest with a dramatic wave of his arms, getting a small chuckle from Akira and a sigh from Ryuji.
"That's not what I meant, you idiot… I was talkin' about how we're all treated like a pain in the ass by the people around us, like we don't belong. I did something stupid at school before, too." Ryuji looked a bit crestfallen for a bit before he shoveled the rest of his food into his mouth and slammed the bowl onto the counter. "You two live in the same area… Yongen, right? It's rush hour on the subways. I suggest you two kill some time before headin' home."
"Yeah, and there are those accidents…" Kyotaro added as he gnawed at the steak and rice in his cheek, "We gotta be careful around stations."
"Yeah, you guys should… What the hell man?" Ryuji noticed how Akira had barely made a dent into his bowl, he opened up the jar on the counter and began placing ginger in his food. "You barely touched your food, you like ginger?"
"I guess… but couldn't you have at least asked me before you do something like this?"
"Just lemme do it. I gotta thank you for helpin' me. Anyways, I got your guys' back like you got mine from tomorrow on." Ryuji smirked in a devilish manner, he clearly couldn't hold back his excitement to take that so-called king of the castle. "As long as we do something about Kamoshida, I'm sure we'll all feel better about bein' at school."
"Awkward phrasing aside, Ryuji has a point…" Kyotaro nodded with a smirk as he placed his finished bowl onto the counter.
"Yeah… To think, Kamoshida screwed us all over." Ryuji scratched his cheek as he thought back to the trouble that the bastard had given them. The track team disbandment and his broken leg, blabbing about Akira's undeserved criminal record, and the recently revealed attempts at bribing Kyotaro out of his late uncle's money. As if Kamo-Shitbag couldn't get any worse…
"Just you wait, Kamoshida… We're gonna start right away tomorrow. First, let's hit up those guys that were kept as slaves. The volleyball rally's tomorrow, huh? Shit's recommended by Kamoshida. Makes me wanna gag. But thanks to that, we got no classes in the afternoon, and we can walk around unnoticed. Well, I guess we can work out the details tomorrow…" Ryuji's eyes widened as if an idea had struck him right then and there. "We should trade numbers huh? If we're gonna take down Kamoshida then we're gonna need to stay in touch."
"What are we, criminals?" Kyotaro laughed as he pulled out his phone. But instead of a few scoffs like he expected, his two accomplices had given him wry smiles with their heads held high. He was taken aback by their reactions before he wearily sighed, "I guess we are, aren't we…?"
"Hey, if we are goin' against that shitbag of a king– then we're gonna hafta go against the rules." Ryuji handed Akira back his phone after he put him in his contacts and held a hand out for Kyotaro to pass him his device.
"Mhm…" Akira nodded as he took a piece of steak and placed it in between his teeth. "And we'll start tomorrow, during the volleyball rally– we're going to have to make our move. You guys ready for that?"
His two confidants nodded their heads with a determined gaze. Good, they were all set. They were gonna find some people to testify against Kamoshida and take down that abusive douchebag…