"This lot here, pull in here," Akechi told Naoto as he motioned to a seemingly abandoned lot, adjacent to an equally abandoned looking building.
As Naoto pulled in, two cars followed. They were both large sedans, not the kind of car that stood out. That was a tactical choice as both cars were rented today to haul all 14 members of the Phantom Thieves across town from Rise's apartment to this abandoned spot a good mile or two from the Diet building. This was a more run-down part of Tokyo. Yu stepped out from the back seat and looked around him. There weren't many spots in Tokyo that looked this run down and if Yu was a betting man, he'd say this place looked like this by design. Akechi pulled out his phone as everyone disembarked from the cars. He seemed to be scroll through it with his good arm before he looked around and nodded to himself.
"So we're going to hop from one Palace to another?" Makoto asked as she looked at everyone. "How many of these hops will we need to make and are there that many Palaces within such a short distance of each other?"
"You'd be surprised Niijima-san." Akechi motioned to the building before them. "This place is another Palace."
"Who would think so much of an abandoned building?" Ryuji asked as his face sneered into a disgusted scowl.
"Well, it isn't just this building. It's the whole block. Everything near here is either abandoned or under control of one Takamasa Hayata. It's a huge real estate scam involving Title Fraud. People want to develop this area of Tokyo, but he instead scams them out of money, promising them the land then pulling a bait and switch for some other piece of land across Tokyo. When the victims go to the police they are turned away. That's if they are not shamed into never speaking up about it. Shido gets a heavy cut off the top of the scam as "donations"." Akechi looked towards everyone. "We will be going through several palaces and one of them is particularly vulgar. We need to focus and keep heading towards Shido's boat. Also, we may be attacked… so everyone please stay sharp."
Yu looked to Ren to give the signal to go. As did everyone. It was strange not being the one that ended up calling the shots, he had taken the role for so long with his friends. Even after so many years removed from the investigation team, his friends just naturally looked to him for leadership. He had just stopped questioning it and renewed his commitment to helping his friends however he could. Now that he was now on the other side of the fence; he felt like the old master that was handing off his art to a promising young student. The more he watched Ren, the more he wanted to see the youth grow.
"Let's go!" Ren nodded to Akechi.
Akechi put his phone up. "Takamasa Hayata, Tanaka slums, gold mine."
The world faded out before it quickly snapped back in place. They stood in the middle of what looked like one of those old American Wild West main street strips but each building appeared to be made out of gold. The basic buildings on the strip matched what they were like outside of the cognition. The building they had parked next to appeared to be an apartment building in the real world, in the cognition, it was a hotel. Next to it was a bar followed by a general store and so on and so forth. At the very end of the strip sat a large cave, in which countless mine carts rolled almost overflowing with gold. The mine carts all rolled to a central building in the town where they were offloaded and shoved into a large old Wild West bank.
"This way." Crow motioned the others to follow him as he kept checking his phone.
They moved away from the gaudy glam of the Wild West town and towards the more normal Tokyo back streets. While the area away from the Palace seemed fairly normal, everything seemed a bit tinted in grey. As if these buildings were built in someone's mind but never really paid attention to. A few stray cognitions lingered here, looking like prospectors from another time and definitely out of place in the normal-looking Tokyo streets. Crow moved through the streets carefully, keeping one eye on his phone and the other eye around him. Finally, they stopped in front of what looked to be a children's playground. They had gone about three blocks from the area where the cognition was strongest.
"Everyone ready for the first jump?" Crow asked looking over the group.
"Do it," Joker commanded.
Crow nodded. "Kazumi Kunda, Shinrikiyaru Park, Shopping center."
The world around them faded as if they had been in the real world before it snapped back. This time looming over them was a large shopping center that seemed to have a feel of Junes. Instead of the standard company logo, the sign above the building simply reads 'Drugs'. Several various kinds of illegal substances were advertised outside of the shop. The most appalling thing was the cognitions around the building. Several of them looked in various states of drug stupors, with their drug of choice normally lying on the ground next to him. Shadows loomed shuffling various substances to the drugged cognitions.
"A playground that is a store for illegal drugs?" Panther asked.
"Oh, dear." Noir gasped no doubt shocked by the sight of the cognitions.
"Doesn't surprise me, drug deals are fairly common in these kinds of areas. Kids don't understand drug deals and they are normally places that are empty at night." Chie explained showing off her police knowledge.
"That's mostly correct, Kazumi Kunda is the queen of an entire drug empire that spreads across half our country. All the drugs Kaneshiro had during his schemes came from her. Shido makes the cops look the other way so Kazumi's business could thrive and all of Kazumi's rivals found themselves in jail. Various police officers got promotions from the busts strengthening Shido's hold over the PD. This playground is where Kazumi grew up and started her drug empire. It's special to her, so much so she privately funded its renewal and bought new playground equipment for it last year." Crow glanced over the large building.
"Hey, Crow, how many of these jumps are we going to make?" Queen inquired.
"We have four more to go." Crow looked around. "We are about a mile from the diet building and I'm taking the most direct routes but there needs to be some mild back and forth to get to where we need to go."
"Then do you think it would be faster if we traveled via bus?" Queen turned and looked at Morgana.
"I can't fit you all in there and your Persona isn't a motorcycle anymore." Mona shook his head at the suggestion. "We need four people to be able to keep up with me as a cat bus."
"I also don't think that'd be a good idea. While these are reflections of the city around us, they are far from perfect copies. People don't memorize the areas in perfect detail around them. It looks real but it can differ vastly from the actual streets. Kazumi is the only real exception to that rule as she memorized all the back allies of Tokyo from her experiences as a drug dealer and walking the streets herself. Our next jump will be the TV station, then the love hotel, followed by a tech company, lastly we'll jump into a different cognition of the diet building than to Shido's ship." Crow explained.
"There can be multiple palaces on top of each other?" Noir inquired.
"Yeah, powerful people gather at the Diet building and inflated egos are common among politicians. There are three that use the diet building as a keyword that I've been to. You guys never really played around with the metaverse app, have you? Haven't you ever felt the need to just randomly look people up?" Crow tilted his head looking at the other teenagers.
"Thought about it but I guess we never really tried it." Skull shrugged.
"Given the power to right wrongs and you guys left the power idle." Crow sighed.
"We had rules, we had to all agree before changing someone's heart." Panther informed Crow.
"I'm aware. But tell me." Crow motioned to the large superstore next to him. "The second you look at this cognition would you deny that the person that owns this Palace doesn't require justice? There are even kids younger than ourselves sitting outside of this store drugged into oblivion." Crow pointed to a boy probably no older than 12, a particular white powder around his nose and face indicted his drug of choice.
"How can a child that young afford hardcore drugs?! I can barely afford my next meal." Fox sounded appalled.
"I think I know how… but that is neither here nor there." Crow turned to Joker. "Does this person need justice?"
Yu glanced at his people. They hadn't said anything because this wasn't a question for them. This question was for the original Phantom Thieves. The investigation part of the Phantom Thieves already knew their answer. Of course, this person required justice. There was a tense pause as slowly everyone looked to Joker to answer for them. He was their leader, he spoke with their voice.
"Yes, but having a Palace alone doesn't mean the person who owns it needs justice." Joker countered.
Crow smirked. "Perhaps, but someone having a Palace in the first place means something is fundamentally wrong with a person. No normal person owns one. Your navigator's Palace from what I understand was one of those kinds of palaces and yet you still stole her heart. Justice comes in many forms, and one could argue you brought justice to her by calming her heart."
"I wouldn't call it justice… but it was something…" Oracle stated.
Yu could see the gears turning in Joker's intense gaze before he spoke. "How many palaces do you know of?"
Crow returned to his phone and after a few seconds replied. "61"
"61?! You know of that many scummy adults?" Skull shouted.
"How many of those palaces will fall when we take down Shido?" Joker asked.
Crow frowned towards Joker. "Unknown. As rats flee a sinking ship some of them may find land."
Joker nodded before locking Crow with that gaze of his. "And how many will you let getaway."
Crow chuckled. "I'll take down as many as I can… However, just because someone is imprisoned doesn't mean their deeds don't continue, the justice that society gives isn't absolute. Some can escape justice. Out of all the palaces, we will see today, there is one I hope you might consider changing the heart of. For there are some people far viler than others."
"Why don't you just do that yourself, Crow? We would support you." Queen asked.
Crow looked towards the group. "Because once Shido goes down, I intend on following him. My crimes are just as despicable as his and with everything I know, that will be enough to bring this whole damn ring down like a domino set."
"Then why do you want to change the heart of someone who is already going to go down?" Panther questioned.
Crow turned and started to walk off away. "You'll understand once you see the Palace. Follow me."
Yu glanced at Joker. There was a look of deep reflection echoing in his dark grey gaze. Crow's words had stirred something within the younger man. Possibly making him question his justice. The reality was there would always be more palaces. It would be a full-time job for a group even this size to bring down them down. Taking out Shido and knocking down those under him was the best idea. The conundrum that Crow presented was that there were people out there that even the justice of society wasn't enough for. Yu would have to see this Palace for himself because even Crow's eclectic words had gotten his mind to stir. What did the former villain truly know?
"You adults have been quiet. Don't you have anything to add?" Skull suddenly blurted out as they moved down the street.
"We are here to assist you all, not worry about the moral quandaries of the Phantom Thieves' justice. We believe your actions are just enough that we have no moral dilemmas in assisting you." Naoto stated before looking at the others. "Unless any of you have anything to add."
"I like what you guys are doin' and any chance I get to kick ass with my Persona again works for me!" Kanji bluntly shrugged.
"I think that pretty much sums it up, Agent." Rise added.
"I'm with Boulder here. I'm all for delivering justice in this form, and bonus points for it involving Personas." Chie kicked out into the air with a smirk.
"What about you Kingpin?" Joker looked to his mentor.
"You are my friends, I support my friends," Yu stated simply.
"It's that simple?" Joker smirked.
"It's always been that simple." Yu nodded to his young student. Joker understood and that was enough for Yu.
"It can't be that simple. We are talking about the justice of what we are doing! Friendship has no…" Queen started always the moral compass of the group before she was silenced as Joker put her hand on her shoulder.
"It's that's simple." Joker reiterated looking towards Yu, a look of understanding passed between them.
Queen looked confused for a minute before Naoto spoke up. "The moral quandaries just don't matter to Kingpin. He is here to support everyone to the best of his ability because he believes in them as a person; not because of any lofty ideals he may personally hold."
"That's rather inspiring." Fox put up his hands, framing Yu with his fingers. "A leader that is willing to cast aside his personal beliefs to stand by those he believes in. A bard could write a ballad all day about such a man." Fox shifted his view to Joker. "Then again our leader is rather similar is he not?"
"A man willing to sacrifice his life for us, our leader is something special too!" Mona purred.
"Yes… Too bad I'm not gifted in the art of wordplay, surely there are stories to be made of this all." Fox then shook his head before he had a flash of determination. "I shall endure committing this to canvas instead! Here I was thinking I wouldn't find much inspiration today, but I was proven wrong!"
After that, a comfortable silence started to fall on the group. The streets seemed long and it was almost 20 minutes of travel before Crow stopped outside of a large building with a radio tower on top. This was the JNS news station. 'Tokyo's most trusted and premier source of news' At least that's what the station advertised. They had been watching this very station this morning when they heard the news about the lockdown around the diet building. If they were going to jump to a Palace here then there had to be some corruption that didn't live up to their slogan.
"Ready?" Crow asked tentatively.
"Go," Joker responded.
"Hatsuyo Sekozawa, JNS building, mind control tower," Crow called into his phone.
The world once again warped out before slowly warping back into place. The TV station was replaced by what looked like one of those mad scientist buildings with a large radio tower looming over it. At the top was a huge satellite dish that jerked back and forth sending out strange waves to the cognitions on the ground. These cognitions were far more crowded than any of the other Palaces as the streets and pathways were crowded with strange people. Everyone seemed glued to their phone with small radio antennas sticking out of the top of their head. They moved like zombies shuffling around and only paying attention to their screens as the news seemed to blare a chorus from the phones.
"I give you Hatsuyo Sekozawa, the man that controls the news. Proof that honest journalism is dead, but I suppose you already realized that. He is also the one that helped me perfect my public image. Don't gawk too long, this Palace has a mind-affecting aura that's hard to detect. The longer you're in it the more you begin to agree with the message. It's given me a headache more than once. Come on let's go…" Crow turned and headed down the street pushing his way through the crowd.
"If it has a mind-affecting aura, how do you beat something like that?" Oracle asked, her voice raised over the drone of the news coming from the crowd's collective phones.
"Pain. The self-inflicted kind works best. I hate this Palace more than most, definitely in the top five of hated Palaces for me." Crow informed everyone.
"Hey, Crow. How many of these Palaces that you know or have you been in?" Skull pushed his way through the crowd to walk next to their guide.
"All of them, it was my job. Loki can cloak me from shadows, so it's far easier for me to infiltrate Palaces than it is for you all. I also worked solo and that afforded me a freedom of movement that a group like this one doesn't have." Crow explained.
"You can cloak yourself?" Naoto seemed interested in that particular ability.
"Yes. It's as if I'm just another shadow. They can even come to my aid if I call. If Loki is truly more shadow than Persona then I suppose that ability isn't that surprising." Crow darted into a less crowded alleyway as he spoke.
Crow waited for everyone to make their way through the crowd and join him in the alley. This area was far less crowded as most of the cognitions seemed to gather on the street. Once everyone was in, he turned and continued down the alley. The alley twisted and seemed to maze out. These were truly the back streets of Tokyo and not normally the areas most tourists or locals traveled. If you were here you were here for a reason. Crow finally stopped in front of what appeared to be one of Tokyo's notorious 'love' Hotels. Turning to his fellow Thieves he offered them a passive look.
"This next hop… Prepare yourselves for it." Crow's voice seemed to indicate that he didn't wish to drag anyone to the next hop.
"It's a love hotel? It can't be any worse than Kamoshida's Palace. The guy had a literal sex dungeon in his castle." Panther put her hand on her hip.
Crow took a deep breath. "It's worse than that… Kamoshida was an asshole but his perversion pales next to our next Palace holder."
"Crow, what's going on in this next Palace?" Queen eyed her companion.
Crow took on a grim expression. "Human trafficking, pedophilia, rape, slavery… Look the next guy is a level of sick that even in my worse I wanted to end."
That was enough to stun everyone into silence. There was something about murder and corruption everyone could handle. Shido you could almost in a twisted way understand why he did what he did. He wanted power and wasn't above using people to get it. This was something else. Using sentient beings and torturing them, trafficking them, raping them… And then there was the fact these were probably kids they were doing this to. A rage boiled in Yu, the kind of righteous fury that he had only felt when someone threatened Nanako.
"Who is this asshole?" Kanji's voice had a dangerous tone to it. "And Shido just allows his shit?!"
"Yeah, who is this guy?" Chie bounced on the balls of her heels as if she was ready to lash out at something.
"Hirokazu Temko. International human trafficker and this back alley Love Hotel is his base of operations. The problem for me has always been that he's one of Shido's best friends." Crow spoke as if he was disgusted with the information he had just spoken.
"This is the one you want us to change isn't it?" Queen inquired.
"Yes… My fear is he'll flee over a border as soon as Shido has a change of heart. He has connections with North Korea that are rather frightening." Crow explained.
"If he leaves there is no way the Japanese government would be able to pull him from North Korea. Not with the tensions between the two countries. At that point, the evidence doesn't matter and the justice system would be far too slow to make sure he remained in the country. He is a rat that very well could get away from Shido's sinking ship." Naoto deduced with a sigh.
"So we just going to let a pedo walk free?" Skull kicked at the ground upset.
"You guys would never know a man like this exists if I had not brought you through this way. This is why I question your justice so much. You have the tools to do so much more, yet in the nine or so months you've had this power you've only used it what. Seven times? You think taking out Shido will be the end of it?" Crow put up his phone. "Hirokazu Temko, love hotel, pleasure dome."
Yu looked away as the world once again faded. As it came back into focus a large neon pink phallic tower stood in front of everyone. The whole area was lit up and was completely distorted from the back alley they had been in. The tower stood in front of a major street and several nicer looking cars with heavy black tinted windows lined the street in front of the building. The front entryway was heart-shaped and shadows moved back and forth between the cars and the entryway of the tower. As the shadows moved, they dragged various people from the tower to the waiting cars. These people ranged from boys as young as 10 to woman as old as being in their late 20s. They were shackled and thrust into the cars seemingly unwillingly. As soon as someone was loaded into the car, it would drive off and another would take its place. While most of the shadows moved cognitions back and forth from cars, some sat outside of the shop armed with weapons. These had to be the guards.
"Behold Temko's escort service, for a nice price you can order off the fine Temko's menu to have someone to go anywhere with you and do what you want with them. For the right price, you don't even have to return them. You can own them." Crow tried to sound like he was advertising something before his voice grew low and filled with spite. "This guy deserves death… You don't fix this kind of perversion."
"Crow!" Naoto snapped upset by Crow's words.
Crow turned away not looking at anyone. "Maybe capital punishment is too good for this guy, he thinks of humans as objects. Objects he can use and abuse as he wishes. Trust me as soon as you dive into this Palace you get to know the depravity of this man." Crow glanced towards Joker, there was a passion in his eyes. "If you wish to bring justice to society you can't depend on Japan's justice system to take care of anything! You have been gifted this power for a reason! Use it! People can be corrupted, they can be blackmailed. Just because Shido will go down doesn't mean the rats that escape won't build something new! I need you all to be better than me! This world doesn't need feel-good heroes that base their popularity off a fucking website, this world needs results! Grow up! This power is too important to just be wasted because this is a world were men like Temko and Shido exist."
"Hey, we are doing all we can! We are students for crying out loud!" Skull growled answering Crow's passion with aggression.
"As am I! I'm also a detective and a media icon. I expect better!" Crow's voice had elevated as he faced the Thieves.
"You have Shido's connections!" Queen countered.
Crow chuckled but the laugh held no real humor to it. "Speaks the sister of a Public Prosecutor. Queen, you're more intelligent than that, you can get information from your sister. All you need is a name to start. Sae knows of Temko, they can't find anything on him. Also now among your ranks, you have two adult detectives and a cop! On top of everything your leader is a master of charisma, you've got connections."
"Crow…" Naoto started.
"No, Nee-san, they need to hear this!" Crow growled.
"Not today. Today is about Shido. You've given them more than enough to think about." Naoto reached out for him.
Crow shrugged Naoto off and started to walk down the street. Yu looked among the teens, they all wore grim expressions. Their very definition of justice had been questioned. Like teenagers, they were trying to rebel against it yet finding very little purchase against Crow's words, so they remained silent. Crow had a point, Yu wouldn't argue that. Shido was the current big bad but there were plenty of others still in need of justice. Now that he was gifted this new way to bring justice what was he, Yu Narukami, going to do with it?
Yu glanced towards Naoto, he saw the calculating look in her eyes. It was that same look she always wore when she started to ponder deeply. The look of a detective figuring out clues. Next, Yu looked towards Rise. She looked a bit heart-broken but still determined. Kanji and Chie? They were both silently seething, Yu could feel it come off in waves from both of them. His friends were going to take out that Palace, Ren and his group now became irrelevant in that equation. They were still kids after all and this was something that would fall squarely on the shoulders of the adults.
Happy Valentine's day dear readers! Happy whatever day it is for everyone else who reads this chapter some other day besides the day it comes out. The next thing up is the big Shido fight. In total before edits, it's like 13K words I split it up into 3 chapters but would you all like the whole thing in one go, or multiple chapters? It'll take a bit longer to come out if you want the whole thing at once. Let me know what you think with a review.