Persona Trinity

by IIIIIIIIII

Six months have passed since the defeat of Yaldabaoth and the disbandment of the Phantom Thieves. Ren Amamiya now enjoys a normal high-school life, hard-won though it may be. For once, normalcy started to feel normal. However, the whims of fate would set the Wild Card User on another path. And he would be far from the only one fate would call on. Pairing: Pseudo RenxHarem YuxHarem

37. The Lovers Concert

A/N Belated Happy New Year! Not really much else to say, other than I hope you all enjoy the chapter!

Disclaimer: I do not own Persona, or any of its characters, and I make no money off of this.

Chapter 37

August 24th – Tokyo: Omnia Mega Mall

"Okay, lights are good!"

"Smoke machine is a go!"

"I think the sound from speaker C is a bit low. It's nothing major, but it might be worth checkin' out."

"Anyone seen Mikage-san? I need to ask her about—"

In the early hours of the morning, music was blaring from a massive stage that had been set up for the sole purpose of hosting Rise Kujikawa's upcoming concert, which was set to start in a matter of hours. Countless workers were moving all over the stage testing out the equipment and ensuring that everything was set up appropriately, all the while about a dozen dancers along with Rise herself were nearing the last stretch of their final rehearsal.

As the girls continued to dance, a certain orange-haired teen watched from a front-row seat with her eyes never leaving center stage. Even as the music died down, she kept her eyes glued on the same spot as if she were afraid everything would disappear if she turned away. She was so hyped up she started cheering, clearly having enjoyed the performance for everything it was worth.

Morgana was much the same way, though of course he had to remain still if he was going to remain hidden inside of the bag that Futaba was kind enough to carry around. The feline's tail continued to wag back and forth; his eye unblinking as he watched the dance winded down.

"Aaaand cut the sound. We're done with that set," a suited woman announced into a headset as she walked up to the dancers. "Take five, girls. We'll finish up after."

With that, Ann and Rise started to walk over towards Futaba, who greeted them with a bright smile that could've been seen a mile away.

"So, what'd you think?" Rise asked, all but knowing the answer.

"It was awesome! The two of you kicked ass out there!" Futaba practically squealed, her excitement jumping out through her voice.

"What she said!" Mona chirped, though he kept his voice low. "You were lovely as always, Lady Ann! And you were spectacular as well, Rise!"

"Aww, thanks," Ann replied. She rubbed the back of her neck, adding, "I was still a bit nervous right before we started, so I'm glad things ended up okay."

"Oh come on, you did great," Rise stated matter-of-factly. "And I'm glad you two enjoyed it so much."

"I sure did! Man, I still can't believe I'm seriously getting a back-stage look at a rehearsal for a Rise Kujikawa concert! It's like a dream—no, better than a dream come true!"

"Geez, Futaba, save at least some of that enthusiasm for the real show," said Kanji amusedly as he walked up to join the trio.

"W-Well, I can't help it, ya know?" Futaba said a bit shyly. "Thanks again for letting me have the opportunity to be here for the rehearsal, by the way."

"Same goes for me," said Mona cheerfully as his head perked up from the bag.

"It's my pleasure," Rise replied with a warm smile. "But if you like the rehearsal, then you're gonna flip when you see the real show! Trust me, it's gonna be outta this world!"

"Speakin' of which, the stage clothes are all set for everyone. That's actually what I came over here to tell you," Kanji stated. "They're in your dressing rooms for whenever you're set to get ready for the show."

Rise nodded. "Thanks! I'll be sure to let everyone know after we're done with our last set."

"Rise-san, Ann-san! Break's over!" the stage manager respectfully called out.

"…looks like that's our cue," laughed Ann. She turned towards Rise. "Ready?"

"Yep! Let's knock this last set out of the park!" exclaimed the redhead.

The twintailed duo didn't make it very far before Rise stopped in place and looked back at Kanji.

"Oh, Kanji, one more thing," Rise said. "When Yu gets here, do you mind—?"

"Don't worry, I remember," Kanji stated with a friendly smile.

A bright smile took its place on the idol's face that more than showed her gratitude. In no time at all, both she and Ann were back with the other dancers setting up for the final routine before they all went off to get ready for the actual show.

"What was that about?" asked Futaba curiously.

"She just wanted me to send Yu her way when he gets here before the show starts," Kanji replied casually.

The orange-haired teen was only more curious than she was before, though she wanted to broach the subject casually since, if she was right, then she was definitely meant to keep it to herself.

"Is that, uh… normal?" Futaba pressed on.

"Well, it's definitely something she'd do, yeah," Kanji replied.

"No, I mean…" Futaba began. She let loose a deep sigh, saying, "Okay, so I've been wondering this for a while now, but are Yu and Rise… you know, d-dating?"

"Oh hell no," Kanji flatly answered, not even an ounce of hesitation or emotion in his voice.

"…really?" Futaba questioned, a bit of uncertainty in her tone. "Wait, are you just saying that cuz' it's supposed to be a secret? I mean, it's not like I don't get it with her being super famous and all that, but I can totally keep my mouth shut if it is!"

"No, it ain't a secret. They just aren't like that," Kanji replied. "And trust me, if those two ever got together, Rise would start screaming it from the rooftop of every building in Tokyo. With how happy that girl'd be, I could seriously see that happening."

Futaba's eyes went wide. "Oh, so then Rise…"

"Yep," Kanji stated firmly. A bit of worry crept onto his feature as he added, "But, uh… obviously don't tell Yu. He doesn't know, and she'd probably kill everyone involved if someone other than her straight-up told him and she found out about it."

"Don't worry, my lips are sealed," Futaba said, laughing somewhat at his reaction. "But wait, Yu doesn't know? How is that even possible? With the way she acts around him… how?"

"Uh, well, the thing about Yu's pretty damn dense when it comes to that stuff."

"But that dense? For real?" Futaba pressed, harnessing her inner-Ryuji.

"I get it's hard to believe, but yeah, pretty much. Hell, I'm pretty sure Yukiko and Chie were crushing on him back when we were in high school, and he never noticed that either," Kanji went on. He smiled sympathetically at the redheaded idol as she continued to dance with everything she had at the center of the stage. "Rise's always been flirty when it comes to Yu, so maybe he just thinks when she does it, that's just her bein' her. If ya ask me, I think it's that he just never notices the small stuff, ya know? Like how even though Rise's usually so confident it's almost unreal, she gets all shy and embarrassed sometimes when they talk. Even when she smiles around him… sometimes it just hits different."

"I-Is that so…?" Futaba muttered.

As Futaba turned her eyes back towards the rehearsal, her sights drifted towards Ann. The blonde-haired beauty was dancing her heart out and doing so quite well, but that wasn't the reason Futaba's eyes were glued to her.

So much of what Kanji just said about 'the small stuff' started to seem too familiar to her. She couldn't help but think back to all the times recently when she'd noticed similar things happen in the way that Ann acted around Ren.

Sometimes, it was an occasional look in the blonde's eyes whenever she was with him, and others it was the smile that always seemed to take its place on her face when the two talked. There were even times when Futaba had started to feel it was just the way Ann would sometimes laugh at Ren's dumb, though admittedly funny, jokes.

As little as a few weeks ago, Futaba wouldn't have noticed any of that. Recently, however, she couldn't not notice. Whether it was her own instinct or just that she could see the comparison between the Ann and Rise, she couldn't say.

What she could say was that it all pointed to something so obvious she felt she should've realized it out sooner.

'So then, she really…?' Futaba trailed off in thought.

"Anyway," spoke Kanji as he turned around and began to walk away. "I gotta go take care of a few things—mainly finding Teddie to make sure he doesn't screw anything up. You good to be out here on your own?"

"Oh, uh yeah!" Futaba replied, a bit caught off guard. "I'll be totally fine."

A second later and the aspiring fashion designer disappeared off to the side of the stage, leaving Futaba once again to stare off into the distance deep in thought.

"…you okay, Futaba?" asked Mona abruptly.

"H-Hm? O-Oh, uh, yeah. Definitely."

Her somewhat panicked response didn't exactly put the cat at ease.

"You don't sound like it," Mona remarked skeptically. "Is there something on your mind?"

"It's nothing, really," Futaba replied. She rubbed the back of her neck nervously, saying only. "It's just that I'm realizing something that I probably should've realized sooner…"

Mona tilted his head curiously. "And that is…?"

Of course, Futaba knew she couldn't answer that question. Well, she could have, but she wasn't sure that Mona would survive if she did. In the end, she gave him a toothy grin and playfully pinched his cheeks.

"H-Hey, quit it!" Mona exclaimed, retreating away from her hands inside the bag. "The heck was that for?!"

"It's rude to pry into a lady's thoughts, you know," stated Futaba. "And here I thought you were a gentleman."

"…a real lady wouldn't pinch so hard," Mona grumbled.

Futaba's eyes narrowed.

"What was that?"

"N-Nothing."

Central Tokyo: Office of the SIU Director

"—in conclusion, criminal activity has declined below even pre-incident levels. A total of seventeen arrests have been made within the Shinjuku Police Departments active personnel, and over two-dozen gang members affiliated with Sasaki have thus far been brought in for questioning," Naoto stated.

The Director of the SIU allowed himself a visible smile upon hearing the that section of Naoto and Yu's report. It had been nothing but good news, and even if he knew there was still more to discuss, he could at least appreciate it for a few brief moments.

He looked towards Yu with a sly but pleased grin.

"Seems that deal you gave to Yumiko Hebiza is paying off even more so than we'd hoped," Tachibana stated. "And have we seen any noteworthy medical issues from those that had been brainwashed?"

"Thankfully, none whatsoever," said Yu. "However, we're still monitoring the situation very closely in coordination with the medical staff at Shinjuku Central Hospital. The discharged patients will have regular health checkups to ensure that there isn't any lasting harm, but for now, it looks like everyone's fine."

"It does my heart good to hear that," Tachibana admitted. His smile fell as he added, "Although the rest of this discussion will likely have the opposite effect."

"I wish I could say otherwise," Naoto muttered somberly. "Outside of what happened to Sasaki himself, the hard drives and other material he stole from the SPD were destroyed beyond repair. All attempts at salvaging data have ended in complete and total failure. That effectively means that any hopes we have of getting access to the information on the White Mask's true purpose is lost for the time being."

"Lovely," sighed the director sarcastically. "Although to be honest, if the data on them is capable of turning Shinjuku into that, then perhaps its better Sasaki chose to destroy them after all."

"That's true, but we can't rest easy just yet," Yu replied.

Tachibana perked up, raising a curious brow towards his favorite subordinate. "Oh?"

There was a look shared between the two young law enforcement prodigies, and the director couldn't help but notice the deadly serious look to their eyes. It filled him with a sense of dread given that he'd only seen that look from Yu one other time in his life.

"Reading between the lines…" began Yu leadingly. "This isn't over. Not by a long shot."

The SIU director slammed his eyes shut and scowled in frustration. "It just never seems to end, does it?"

"Well, there's at least a silver lining," said Yu, sporting a small but confident smirk. "This time, we at least know what we're up against."

"That, and it appears we'll be having even more help this time around," Naoto added.

"Heh, yes, so I've heard," Tachibana replied. "As always, I'll leave the finer details to you. Keep me in the loop as best you can, and, uh… do make sure these 'Shadow Operatives' don't do anything I wouldn't, Yu. Not that I don't trust them, but I'm sure you understand that in my position, I haven't got a reason to trust them either."

"Believe me, sir, they won't be a problem at all."

"That's reassuring. Well then, if there's nothing else…"

The detective and the lawyer bowed their heads respectfully before heading out the door and into the hallway before making their way towards the nearest elevator.

"It's convenient that the director is so understanding," Naoto commented offhandedly. "I half-expected he'd start to ask us questions about the Shadow Operatives once he'd learned about them. Although you'd be the only one between the two of us that could answer them."

Yu shook his head. "There's no chance I'd be able to tell him anything even if he did. I'd prefer not to face an execution anytime soon."

"…why do you keep using that word?" Naoto asked, confusion clear in her voice. "Now that I think about it, Akihiko-san used it as well when we first met."

"I'm sure you'll find out why soon enough."

A ding from the elevator sounded off, allowing the two to enter and head for the first floor.

"Speaking of Akihiko-san, do you know his current whereabouts?" Naoto inquired.

"Not exactly," admitted Yu. "All I know is he's busy in the Metaverse setting up some kind of monitoring system."

"I'm curious to see if it'll find anything once it's set up. Things have been strangely quiet lately," Naoto remarked.

"Yeah, I agree, which is why I think it's all the more reason to keep a close eye on things," Yu reasoned.

"Well, that I can understand," admitted Naoto with a firm nod. "I'm also suspicious of the calm before the storm."

"I'm shocked," Yu said cheekily.

The blue-haired detective gave him a bit of a dirty look, though her lips were in a cute pout that took all the venom out of her expression. Before she could say anything, though, both her and Yu's phones started to buzz.

Chat: Meta Chat

Yosuke: Yo! Chie, Yukiko and I are headin' out soon!

Futaba: I'm already here back stage for when peeps get here.

Haru: I'm eating lunch with Mako-chan right now, but we'll be heading out soon as well!

Ryuji: I'm headin' out soon too!

Yusuke: As am I.

"We should probably head out too," Yu thought aloud. "If we end up being late, I'm pretty sure Rise won't ever let us hear the end of it."

"Agreed."

Tokyo – Shibuya: Omnia Mega Mall

Even though it was still an hour or so before the concert was actually meant to start, the area outside of Rise's concert was beyond packed. Even Ren found it difficult to move around without bumping into anyone.

The raven-haired teen was all on his own as he made his way towards the venue's entrance, and as soon as he was free from the worry of being trampled, he took out his phone and breathed a sigh of relief.

Before he could even read through the group chat, however, he heard an all-too familiar voice call out to him nearby.

"Yo."

The greeting came from Yu, drawing Ren's attention as both the silver-haired Wild Card walked towards him alongside Naoto.

"Hey," replied Ren with a friendly smile. "You two got here faster than I thought you would."

"You and me both," chuckled Yu. "We hit less foot-traffic coming in that you'd expect, so I guess you can just call it luck."

"Luck or not, we're here, and that's what counts," Naoto mused.

"True," said Ren. "So, what do we do now? Do we head in, or…?"

Yu cupped his chin in thought. "I'm not too sure, but I think Kanji is about to let us know."

Both of the other two were confused, at least until they noticed the mentioned young man walking towards them from the venue entrance. Next to him was Teddie, though the Bear-sona user had a hand firmly gripping his collar that prevented him from his usual routine of jumping at Yu and tackling him to the ground.

That didn't stop Teddie from trying, though.

"Sensei~!" cooed the overly-excited blond.

"Hey there, Teddie," Yu replied, sporting an amused look as his eyes shifted towards Kanji. "I take it you got stuck with babysitting him?"

"What gave it away? How annoyed at him I look, or how I'm holdin' on to his collar like a leash?"

"Can't it be both?"

"I guess, yeah," he chuckled. "Anyway, you three got here at the perfect time. C'mon, I'll show ya backstage."

Everyone followed the Kanji's lead as he guided them through security and onto the surprisingly massive stage. They had to walk around the constantly-moving stagehands that were getting ready for the show's kick-off, but other than that, they didn't come across any issues.

Eventually, Futaba, who'd been back stage the entire morning, spotted them from a distance. It helped that Kanji and Yu were so tall that they stuck out like a sore thumb.

"Ren, Yu! Naoto! Over here!" Futaba greeted, waving excitedly as she did so.

"Ren's here?" Mona asked, excitedly popping his head up out of the bag at the navigator's side.

"In the flesh," said Ren through a laugh as he and the others made their way up to the pair. "So, how was the backstage preview?"

"It was so awesome I can't even describe it properly!" Futaba cheered.

"What she said!" Mona stated in agreement. "Lady Ann and Rise were mesmerizing! I can still hardly believe it."

"Well, I'm glad you enjoyed it as much as you did," said Ren. He looked around, asking, "I take it Ann and Rise are busy getting ready?"

"I'd assume so," Yu remarked.

"Yeah, they're back in their dressing rooms… which reminds me," began Kanji, locking eyes with the silver-haired lawyer among them. "Rise said she wanted to see you before the show if you got here early enough. She's just waiting in her dressing room down that way."

Teddie perked up. "I can show you the way, Sen—gaah!"

The cheerful Persona user had taken only two steps before he was forcefully stopped by way of the grip Kanji still held on his collar.

"You won't be going anywhere because you can't be trusted," Kanji stated pointedly. "Anyway, her dressing room is labeled super well, ya can't miss it."

"Got it, thanks," Yu replied. "Any idea why she wanted to see me?"

"Nope," said Kanji.

That was a half-lie. He had a good idea as to why, but it wasn't his place to say.

"I guess it's just as well. I wanted to wish her luck before the show anyway," Yu thought aloud. "By the way, did you want to come with me, Naoto?"

"I'll think I'll pass. Besides, she did ask for you specifically, remember," Naoto replied.

"Alright then. I'll catch up with you guys later."

As Yu walked away, a similar idea popped into Ren's head. After all, Rise wasn't the only Lovers Arcana that was set to be in the concert.

"Hey, Kanji, is it okay if I go see Ann?" asked Ren curiously. "I was hoping I could wish her luck before the show."

"Yeah, that's totally fine," Kanji stated cheerfully. He pointed off towards the same direction that Yu had walked towards. "She and the other dancers are all set and ready to go, so they'll be waiting down the hallway towards the left right over there."

"Gotcha," uttered Ren with a nod. "Did you wanna come with, Futaba?"

"Nah, I'm good," replied Futaba. "I already wished her luck this morning, so not much of a point in finding her again just to repeat myself, ya know?"

Morgana once again stuck his head out of the bag. "I'll go with you, Joker! Anything to—"

"That's a negatory, Mona," Futaba interjected, forcing his head back down into the bag. "With how many people there are walking around right now, we can't take the risk of you getting caught. Plus, I've had enough close calls for today, thank you very much."

"Just how many times has he almost been found out?" Ren inquired in a deadpanned tone.

"O-Only, like, two times," Morgana grumbled softly.

"Like five times," Futaba stated. "Anyway, you go ahead without us, Ren. We'll see you whenever the show starts."

"Cool, I'll see you later then."

"I've gotta go take care of a few things too, but I'll join up with everyone before the show starts," Kanji added.

"And I—" Teddie began.

Without even saying the obvious 'you're coming with me', Kanji started to walk off and dragged Teddie with him before he could even so much as say a third word in his sentence. The energetic Shadow turned human didn't seem to mind much. In fact, he smiled and waved back at Futaba and Mona as he moved further and further away.

"Hey, Futaba," Morgana began, peeking his head out of the satchel once again. "Out of curiosity, why didn't you go with Ren to see Lady Ann? You're not mad at her or anything, are you?"

Futaba's eyes went wide. "What?! No, of course not!"

"I see. Good," he muttered in response. "So then, uh, why didn't you go with him?"

For a split-second, the hacking prodigy froze, although thankfully Mona didn't notice since he was currently inside the 'Mona bag'.

"…no reason," Futaba replied, her tone so casual it almost felt forced.

Her tone was so casual that it almost felt forced, and it went without saying that Mona noticed. It was weird to him, though, because she could tell she wasn't lying when she said she wasn't mad at Ann two seconds ago, and if it wasn't that, he had no idea what other reason she could've had to not wanting to see her.

"Are you sure?" Morgana pressed.

"Yes, I'm sure. It's like I said earlier, I'd already wished her luck, and doing that again might jinx it," Futaba stated, trying to laugh off the feline's confusion.

"Okay, if you say so…"

"I do say so," Futaba replied, patting his head through a small gap in the bag. "Now c'mon, you've gotta stay quiet for now, okay? You don't wanna miss the big show, do you?"

The fact that the cat immediately went silent showed just how seriously he took that risk.

"Good," laughed Futaba.

Concert Venue: Backstage, Outside of Rise's Dressing Room

Just like Kanji had said, Rise's dressing room was almost impossible to miss. Yu currently stood a short distance away from the door, but it almost felt weird for him to take another step. Just seeing how massive the dressing room was made it hard for him to believe that Rise was really the person on the other side.

'Then again, I guess I shouldn't be that surprised. She's gotten even more famous these last few years,' Yu thought.

With that, the Wild Card took a few steps forward and knocked several times on the door.

After all, he wasn't stupid enough to just open it and risk some kind of overdone, tropey interaction.

"Who is it?" came Rise's voice from the other side.

"It's Yu," he replied. "Kanji said you wanted to see me, so I came as soon as I could."

"Good," said the idol, a pleasant note to her voice. "Come on in. Oh, but make sure you close the door after you do, okay?"

"Got it."

When Yu opened the door, he half-expected to see Rise sitting in front of a mirror at a desk surrounded by about five or so assistants. However, when he stepped inside the dressing room, he didn't see anyone.

Yu closed the door behind him, looking around the room yet again as he called out, "Rise?"

"Don't worry, I'm here," she said through a laugh. "Just a sec, okay?"

It went without saying that Yu had no problem with waiting, but he also had no idea what on earth he was supposed to be waiting for. However, when Rise had asked for just a second, she was being literal, as in a bout exactly that amount of time she came out from behind one of the standing folds in the room.

The redheaded beauty was wearing a sleeveless vest that was a mixture of pink, light red, and bleached white, which formed an x-pattern going up to her neck so as to leave the center of her chest exposed. The vest also stopped just over her abdomen, leaving her midsection open right up to the patterned red and black skirt on her waist. That skirt, however, didn't go for very long, being almost the perfect length to cover her upper thighs while leaving the maximum length of her legs left beneath it, both of which were covered by a pair of jet-black thigh-high boots that had a dark blue fire-like pattern coming up and down each side.

Lastly were the accessories scattered throughout her outfit. First was the pale blue rose placed on her chest and a pair of small sapphire earrings pierced to her earlobes. Secondly was the thin yellow armband tied to her left bicep. Third, but certainly not least, were two more pale blue rosses on the top of each of the boots.

The outfit itself was definitely something special beyond any doubt, but it was how it looked on Rise in particular that made it perfect. It hugged every curve of her body just enough to give her an alluring and yet classy feel.

Although Yu didn't say anything after laying eyes on her, it was clear by the look on his face that he found her stunning.

"Like what you see?" Rise asked, sporting a flirtatious smile. She playfully moved up towards him and leaned in as if to show off her cleavage just a bit. "Come on, be honest: what do you think?"

It was obvious she knew what he was going to say, but then again, that's why she asked in the first place.

She wanted to hear him say it.

"Well, I want to say you look great, but somehow I feel like that's an insult," Yu admitted.

Rise's smile only grew in size. "Thanks, I'm glad you think so."

"Was Kanji the one who designed it?" Yu asked out of curiosity.

"I had some inputs, but yeah, pretty much. I guess I can't take all the credit for how good it looks since I have to admit he knocked it out of the park," Rise answered. She stood up proudly, adding, "But I think I pull it off pretty well, if I do say so myself."

"I'll say," Yu uttered.

Hearing that only poured more fuel on the fire, as within a split-second, Rise moved up towards Yu and playfully leaned into his side. When the two locked eyes, the Wild Card couldn't help but feel like he was defenseless prey that had just fallen in front of an apex predator…

And one that loved to play with its food.

"Sorry, I didn't quite catch that. Mind saying it one more time?" Rise asked playfully.

"You know, I'm starting to get the feeling you wanted to see me just so you could mess with me," Yu replied,

"Well, that's partially true," Rise admitted with a giggle. She then stepped away, modeling the outfit a short distance away by spinning around for the silver-haired young man a few times. "This was the real reason though."

"The outfit?"

"Yep," Rise answered cheerfully. She looked at him dead in the eye once more. "No one else has seen me wear it before. Kanji had me wear the prototype just to make sure the sizes were right, but this is the first time anyone's seen me in the final version. I'm sure all my fans out there will go crazy once they see me in it, but… the truth is, I wanted you to be the first person to see me wear it."

The soft emotion in her voice and the honesty that shined in the pits of her beautiful brown orbs almost made Yu break out in a nervous blush. It took everything he had not to, and even then, he couldn't stop the uncomfortable tightness in his chest.

"Well, you look amazing," Yu replied, not knowing what else to say. "Oh, and I guess I may as well say this now: good luck out there today. I know you don't need it, but…"

"Well, you're right about that," Rise replied, sporting a cheeky smirk. "But I appreciate it all the same."

"Anytime," chuckled Yu. "By the way, the songs you're set to sing are mainly from your last album, right?"

"Yep!" began Rise. She looked away briefly, then saying, "Speaking of which, did you ever finish listening to it?"

"Sapphire? Yeah, of course," Yu answered.

There was a brief pause, though the silver-haired Wild Card knew it to be a meaningful one. Her playful attitude seemed to disappear and she became noticeably serious.

"I never did ask you what you thought of it," Rise stated. "If it's all the same to you… I'd like to hear what you have to say."

Just hearing her say that caused Yu to freeze for a moment. The soft note to her voice and the way she looked into his eyes made it obvious she wasn't asking about what he thought about her music or her singing.

No, she was asking about something much deeper than that.

From Rise's perspective, what she'd just asked was on the same level of confessing how she felt to him. Both of them knew that most of the album's songs were about Yu. She'd poured her feelings into every second, every note, every lyric—and now she was trying to see if he'd seen through it.

Yu understood all of that. He could see it in her eyes—how hopeful she looked for those short few seconds he stayed silent. She so desperately wanted him to understand what she was trying to say, but in the end…

"I thought it was some of the best music I've ever listened to, and I really mean that," Yu said, looking at her with a soft smile. "Honestly, I was shocked. I could feel just how much emotion you were able to pour into every song. You've really grown as an artist, Rise, and I… I think it's really incredible."

Although the redheaded young woman didn't let it show, she felt a stinging sense of disappointment at his answer. She played it off expertly and smiled warmly at him, choosing to find happiness in how genuine his compliment had been.

"I'm glad you think so," Rise replied. She giggled before playfully adding, "But if you think that now, then just wait until after the show. I'll give a performance that'll blow you away, so be sure to keep your eyes on me, okay?"

"I'll hold you to that," laughed Yu. "Well, I should probably get going now. Good luck out there, Rise. I'm sure you'll knock 'em dead."

"You know it!"

The two parted ways with Yu heading out the door seconds later, and the moment that it closed behind him, Rise let out a deep sigh. She let all the disappointment that she'd kept hidden show in that moment, being unable to keep it contained any longer.

"Still not getting it, huh…?" Rise wondered aloud. She turned towards her mirror, now appearing oddly determined. "That's fine, we'll see if you can still say that after the show. I'm gonna give it my all, so you'd better be ready, Yu."

---

As Yu stepped away from the dress room, he let out a deep, tired sigh. He didn't know what would happen when Rise asked to see him before the show, but he certainly didn't expect that.

If it weren't for all the people passing him by in the hallway, he'd probably have started pounding his head against a wall already.

'I don't know why, but every time she gets like that, I just…' Yu thought.

Suddenly, he felt something off—he didn't know what, but something. His eyes widened for a split second as his head jolted down the hall, though as he continued looking, he saw nothing out of the ordinary.

However, it was rare for Yu to ever get a feeling like that when there really was nothing going on. He trusted his instincts, and just a second ago, they'd practically screamed out at him to be on alert.

He kept looking around for anything strange, but the only thing in front of him no matter where he turned were ordinary people going about their business.

"…I really hope that was just my imagination," Yu thought, a lone bead of sweat dripping from his temple as he walked away.

---

Ann stood in front of a mirror that had been set up just outside the dressing rooms for anyone to use on the go. She started to do a few of the in-between poses for the dancing routine.

In fact, she was so focused on posing, she didn't notice a certain raven-haired teen walk up from down the hall.

"Alright, this'll definitely work," Ann thought aloud, nodding to herself as she finished.

"Well, if you're looking for feedback, it's definitely not bad," said Ren. "It does look like you're trying just a bit too hard, though."

"Huh?" Ann uttered confusedly. She turned her head towards the Wild Card, her eyes wide from surprise. "Ren? What're you doing here?"

"I just dropped by to wish you luck before the show," he answered casually.

"Aww, that's sweet," Ann said with an appreciative smile. "But while you're here… what do you think?"

She gestured towards her clothes, looking very confident as she did so.

Her outfit consisted of a red crop-top sweater that left her midriff exposed. Its sleeves rolled slightly to just past her elbow, and right on the center across her chest was the word 'FIRE' outlined in black and filled with a mix of teal and red. A pleated skirt was on her waist, which, like all the other dancers, was pitch black mixed in with dark pink and red.

Covering her legs were a pair of netted stockings, which made them appear as if they went on forever leading into her red, black-laced sneakers, and a pair of red fingerless-gloves covered her hands. Lastly for her clothing were the accessories, being a black baseball cap with a golden 'V' on her head, a pair of long, golden hoop-like earrings, and a number of red and golden ringed bracelets that took their place around her wrists on each side.

The blonde's makeup was also incredibly well done, though that was no different from usual. She wore light red lipstick, and had light-blue nail polish that seemed to be almost the exact same color as her eyes. Her hair also looked slightly different, though not in style. It just had two light red streaks going through it, which while small, really popped out due to her natural hair color.

"You look great, although something tells me you already knew that," Ren said, giving her a small grin.

"Oh? How could you tell?" Ann replied playfully.

"Dunno. Call it a lucky guess," he said, eliciting a slight giggle.

"All of the dancers got custom outfits like this, and we even got a chance to give a few inputs on the designs," Ann explained. "Oh, and Kanji is crazy talented. I barely even needed to say anything and it was like he totally got what I wanted! I was a bit worried at first that I wasn't clear enough on what I was thinking, but it turned out great!"

"I'll say," Ren stated, examining the outfit from head-to-toe once again. "It fits you so well it's almost hard to believe. Actually… for some reason, I feel like I've seen you wear it before. Maybe I'm just imaging things, though."

"What? Am I haunting you're dreams or something?" Ann asked with a playful smirk.

"From time to time," Ren shot back.

His response immediately threw Ann off. Her cheeks went red from embarrassment, though she started to calm down the second she saw his trademark teasing smirk.

"T-That was a risky joke, you know," Ann muttered quietly.

"Maybe," replied Ren, though his smirk only grew in size. "But the way I see it, I still owed you some payback from the festival."

"Well, whatever, the point is I look good," Ann stated, immediately changing the subject.

"No arguments here," Ren said. His expression became a bit more serious. "So, are you nervous at all?"

"…a bit," Ann admitted. "Performing live in front of thousands of people is new to me, but I'm not gonna let that hold me back! I'm gonna glow up on that stage no matter what!"

"I'm sure you will," Ren stated honestly. "Well, good luck out there, even if I don't think you need…"

The raven-haired teen paused mid-sentence and started to look around with a strange look on his face.

"Everything okay?" Ann questioned, a touch of concern in her voice.

"I mean, I think so. I just felt something was off for a second. It's hard to explain," answered Ren. His attention shifted back to the blonde, his expression softening as he did so. "Sorry about that, whatever I was feeling, it's gone now. Must've just been my imagination."

Ann breathed a sigh of relief. "Geez, you scared me for a sec with how serious you looked."

"Again, sorry," Ren replied. "I should probably head back now. I'll see you when the show starts though."

"Damn right you will," Ann proclaimed with a bright smile. "I'll be shining so bright, there's no way you won't notice me. It'll blow you away for sure!"

Ren matched her expression. "I'm looking forward to it."

After Joker walked away, the blonde went back to looking at herself in the mirror, once again trying out a few poses she'd get the opportunity to use during the show.

'Aw, damn,' Ann thought. 'I should've gotten his opinions on a few of my other poses. Oh well, next time.'

She shifted through a set of another three poses, and she'd have gone through even more if it hadn't been for a voice calling out to her from behind.

"You call that a pose? Pfft," scoffed a familiar voice.

Ann recognized the condescending snark in that tone immediately, however she was still shocked to turn around to see Mika watching her from a few feet away. The brunette's deep brown eyes scanned her from head to toe, completely ignoring her surprised reaction.

"M-Mika?! What the… How are you even here right now?" Ann stammered in shock.

"I know the stage manager, so she let me back here. That's not important though," Mika answered uncaringly. "Hmm, the outfit's not bad. Well, at least by your standards, which I suppose isn't saying much. Still, you pull it off well enough."

A vein started to pop in the blonde's forehead.

"And did you just show up here so you could insult me, or what?" Ann asked, fighting back an angry scowl.

"I came here because I happened to hear that a certain airhead landed a spot as a dancer at one of Rise Kujikawa's premiere events. Obviously, I needed to make sure you didn't screw this up," Mika replied, a hand on her hips as she seemed to relax a bit. "I'm sure you understand that it'd look bad for me if someone I consider a rival makes an ass out of themselves in front of thousands of people."

"If that's why you're here, then you wasted a trip," Ann confidently replied.

"The stage manager told as much, but with you, I can never be too sure," Mika replied. She gave the teen a smug smirk. "Besides, if you do embarrass yourself, at least this way I get a front row seat. So, unless you want that to happen, you'd better bring your A-game."

Hearing her say that caused Ann to realize exactly why Mika was there in front of her. Despite everything, it was obvious that Mika wouldn't waste her time coming there just to throw insults at her. In a weird way, she was trying to encourage her.

Even if her tone was nasty and her words even more so, in her own way, Mika was trying to show her support in the only way she knew how. Maybe it was the only way she could given her personality.

It almost made Ann want to smile, but then if she did that, it might've ruined the moment. No, she knew she had to keep it up, and as things were, she was more than happy to.

"Dream on," Ann shot back, a determined look in her eyes. "The second I hit that stage, I'll give a performance that'll blow you away, got it?"

"Good," Mika replied, her tone significantly more friendly for just that one instant. She caught herself and cleared her throat, her condescending aura returning in full force. "A-Anyway, just don't screw up."

Mika looked a bit embarrassed as she started to walk away, which almost made Ann laugh aloud, though she stopped herself out of respect for the moment.

The two rivals had ended on something of a friendly note, which if course meant that Mika just couldn't help herself from looking back to give just one more catty comment.

"Oh, and by the way, I saw your boyfriend walk by me a few minutes ago, so I assume he's staying for the show," Mika stated, giving the blonde a devilish grin. "Even if you don't care about anyone else in the crowd, I'm positive you'd die inside if you embarrassed yourself in front of him. It might even be so bad he breaks up with you."

Ann's glare was immediate. "I don't even know where to start with that, so I guess I'll just say this: piss off."

The brunette model laughed devilishly before walking off, giving a backhanded wave before she eventually vanished from sight.

Omnia Mega Mall: Concert Venue Audience, Some Time Later…

Ren found himself making his way through the backstage area in an attempt to find the nearest exit into the audience. That was easier said than done, though, as so many stagehands were running up and down the hallways that he found himself constantly stopped just so he wouldn't get in their way.

Finally, he managed to round the corner nearest in front of him, and immediately afterwards, he came face to face with Yu, who looked like he'd come out from just down the opposite hall.

Their surprise at seeing each other lasted for only a split-second before they realized their meeting up wasn't exactly a coincidence.

"Let me guess," Yu began with a knowing smirk. "You went to see Ann to wish her good luck before the show, right?"

"Yeah. How did you know?" Ren asked sarcastically.

"Not sure. I think I might be psychic."

The two shared a laugh before they started walking down the path marked towards the nearest exit into the main area. By that point, they didn't really need the signs since the crowd of people was so large they could hear them even from that distance away.

Thankfully, their seats were near the front for the obvious reason that they knew Rise and managed to score them without any trouble. In fact, they were so close to their seats after going through the stage exit that their friends who were already there spotted them instantly.

"Yu, Ren! Over here!" Chie exclaimed.

The brunette waved at them enthusiastically alongside Teddie, Yosuke, Ryuji, Futaba, and Haru while Naoto, Makoto, and Yusuke stayed mostly quiet and just gave them a subtle wave. It looked like everyone was there, though as the two Wild Cards neared, it was obvious that one person in particular was still missing.

"Is Sae not here yet?" Yu asked.

Makoto shook her head. "No, not yet. Sis had something to take care of at work, so she—"

"—is standing right behind you," Sae spoke.

The silver-haired beauty appeared out of seemingly nowhere from behind Yu, eventually taking a spot directly next to him as she joined the group.

"Perfect timing," said Yu.

"More or less," Sae replied with a shrug.

As a bunch of smaller conversations started kicking off, Ryuji quickly made his way next to Ren and threw his arm around his best friend as he often did.

"So, you went to see Ann before the show to wish her luck, yeah?" Ryuji asked good-naturedly, eliciting a slight nod. "Damn, wish I'd gotten here earlier so I coulda gone with ya. She wasn't freakin' out or anything, was she?"

"She was totally fine," Ren answered honestly.

"Glad to hear it! Oh, by the way, was she in her stage outfit when you went to see her?" Futaba pressed. "I kinda wanna know what it looked like. They were keeping them super-secret during the rehearsals, so—"

"Geez, we're like a minute away from the show. Just wait for cryin' out loud."

All eyes turned to Kanji as he made his way towards them from near the eastern side of the stage, much like Ren and Yu had just a few minutes ago.

"Is it finally about to start? For real?!" Futaba asked, her eyes practically sparkling with anticipation.

Kanji smiled cheerfully. "Yeah, they're about to kick it off soon. Won't be long now."

Everyone started to set their eyes on the stage in anticipation of the show that was about to happen. That was when Ryuji notice something out of the corner of his eye; it was a very deep-in-thought Yusuke cupping his chin.

"Uh, Yusuke?" uttered Ryuji, his voice one of both confusion and concern. "You good, dude?"

"I'm just thinking about how Futaba said 'for real', just now," Yusuke replied in a serious voice. "It feels strange hearing that phrase from someone that isn't you…"

"I will smack you, bro. Don't think I won't."

"Joker, can you keep these two from going at it until at least after the show?" Morgana politely requested. "The last thing I need is—"

"I'll stop you there before you make things worse by insulting Ryuji," Ren interrupted with an amused smirk. "Just relax, okay? It looks like things are about to start."

As if on cue, the lights all around the concert venue went dark for a moment. A smaller number of stage lights started to shine towards center-stage, and as if out of nowhere, there stood Rise Kujikawa in all her graceful beauty. The voices all over the crowd started to die down as they waited with anticipation for what was to come, and like the true performer that she was, the idol waited just the right amount of time before she started off.

As Rise began to sing, and from the first moment her voice could be heard, the entire crowd went silent. It wasn't out of respect, though—it was out of disbelief. No one could quite wrap their head around the unbelievable sound that was gracing their ears.

It was as if every word that left her mouth had the heart and soul of the singer poured into them, and it was something so beautiful and heartwarming that it simply couldn't be described with words alone. The entire experience was numbing to the point that most could hardly even hear the lyrics anymore. All they felt was a rush of emotions that they were made to feel as a result of the idol's beautiful singing.

Yu, however, could hear it all. Every lyric, every note, every word was like an arrow meant to shoot straight into his heart. He felt his chest tighten, though he knew he couldn't do anything about it.

"Woah…" Futaba whispered.

That one word summed up most everyone's reaction. However, the solo act ended then and there. As the songs intro came to a close, lights all around the stage came on and the backup dancers seemed to pop up out of nowhere. On each of Rise's sides were three young women, each of whom started to dance with her as the song continued on.

The crowd started to cheer wildly as the stage lit up with fireworks, and the Persona users in the front row were no exception.

"Wohooo! Hell yeah!" Futaba shouted.

"Rock that stage, Rise! You too, Ann-chan!" Chie cheered.

Several of the others joined in, being mostly Teddie, Yosuke, Kanji, and Ryuji. Even those that were quieter were clearly caught up in the excitement—though it was almost impossible not to be.

When it came to Ren, he found himself more focused on the dancers, and for obvious reasons. All of them were amazing, of course, but the one he had his eyes on outshined each of the other backup dancers by a mile.

Of course, that dancer was Ann.

She may not have had the most experience, but it was clear that she was putting her heart and soul into every movement. The way she was smiling and moving so confidently on the stage, he could tell she was really giving it her all.

And seeing that brought a genuine smile to the Wild Card's face.

Ann had always wanted to become a shining ray of light so that people could draw from her strength, and in that moment, Ren saw what that dream would truly look like. He'd always known, always believed she had it in her, but to actually see it with his own eyes was something else entirely.

As he looked up on that stage, he was beyond sure.

One day, she'd become that beautiful light she'd always wanted to be.

'There's no doubt about it,' Ren thought with a smile. 'Not that I ever had any doubt in the first place, though.'

After a few more seconds passed, the first song wound down, and a gorgeous lights display—fireworks and all—shot up from the stage. The crowd's cheers became deafening, and it felt like the whole venue shook, but no one seemed to care. Either that, or they were just too hyped up to notice.

"We've still got a lot of the show left, but I just wanted to thank everyone for coming out here! We're sorry the concert was initially moved, and I wanted to thank Omnia for being so accommodating and for hosting this event. Of course, I want to give a special thanks to all the fans that made all this happen in the first place! Thank you, everyone!" Rise exclaimed, waving to the crowd as their applause filled her ears. She then gripped the mic confidently. "Alright, now… who's ready for more?!"

Predictably, the audience only got louder, signaling the show to continue on.

Metaverse: Central Shibuya

Akihiko stood atop a desolate building, placing a small, circular device on its surface. He waited several seconds and ensured that it was properly clamped down onto the rooftop before he activated it. Once he saw a red light flash three times and then transition to a green, he stood up and nodded.

'Alright, that's the last one for this area,' Akihiko thought.

The silver-haired young man took out his phone and started to look at the scope of the tracking deices he'd already set up. So far, he had nearly half of all Tokyo under the scope of Fuuka's devices, something that he couldn't help but feel a bit proud of given he'd only started in recent days.

"Not too shabby," Akihiko remarked to himself.

He was about the put his phone away, that was until he saw a ping show up on the tracking net. It lasted for only a second, but he was able to check the data to confirm exactly where it'd come from.

'That's not far off from here,' thought Akihiko.

It immediately caught his attention that the signature was too strong to have been just any random Shadow. He didn't know for certain what it was, but he had a feeling deep in his gut that it was him.

As he continued to stare at the screen in deep thought, the sensory net flashed again. It was the same area, same signature—same everything.

Never one to hesitate, Akihiko rushed towards the staircase and ran out onto the Metaverse's streetways as quickly as he could. He made his way to the building the ping had come from, at which point he took out his phone to scan for any other enemies nearby.

He wasn't stupid enough to walk right into a trap, after all.

'Okay, looks like there aren't any smaller Shadows anywhere in this building,' Akihiko thought. 'I just need visual confirmation on the target. Once I see him show up again, I make my move, and get the hell out. Quick and easy.'

He started to make his way carefully up the stairs, being deadest on avoiding an ambush. At his current pace it would've been another minute or so before he reached the top floor, though when the giant red dot showed itself again, he was hit with a sense of urgency.

With only a few floors left to climb, Akihiko rushed up the remainder of the staircase, ready to come face to face with the shaded demonic creature he was expecting to find. He stormed into the uppermost floor of the building seconds later.

However, he saw nothing.

The entire tenth floor of the office building was completely empty.

'What the hell? There's no way I was that slow,' Akihiko thought.

The gray-haired Shadow Operative moved forward carefully, his hand glued to his evoker as his eyes scanned the area. Eventually, he reached the far-end of the room near the windows where he stood for some time.

Still, he saw nothing.

"Dammit," Akihiko quietly hissed. "Did I really miss him?"

As if in response to his voice, another ping flared on his phone. When he saw that this one was coming from the roof, he looked around urgently to find another staircase, then seeing one on the far corners of the room. Akihiko sprinted towards it as quickly as he could, literally jumping up the stairs and bursting through the door of the rooftop.

Still, there was nothing.

Again, Akihiko chose to be cautious and started to patrol the roof with his hand prepped and ready on his Evoker. However, it quickly became clear that there was nothing there waiting for him.

Akihiko looked at his phone once again, only to sigh as he realized the obvious.

"…that bastard's probably just messing with me," Akihiko mused, a scowl now crossing his lips.

Suddenly another ping—this one from the building directly across the street.

Akihiko turned to look exactly where Fuuka's tracking software was telling him to, and when his eyes finally landed on the opposite rooftop, that's when he saw it.

That's when he saw him.

Sitting on the edge of the building just a short distance away was a creature bathed in darkness that constantly breathed off its body like a deep fog. Akihiko felt a chill run down his spine when he looked at its haunting red eyes, which stared at him unblinkingly for what felt like an eternity.

Then it was gone. In the blink of an eye, the shaded demon had vanished.

Everything was quiet for a time, with Akihiko standing tall and staring off at where the Shadow had been. He felt a numbness wash over him at seeing the creature yet again, but it was, beyond a doubt, exactly what he and the others had feared it to be.

"He really is back…" Akihiko uttered solemnly. His fists baled as he added, "And the bastard was definitely screwing with me."

Though that had obviously been the case, it remained true that he now had visual confirmation. Akihiko looked at the Meta-nav in search for the nearest exit.

Placing the rest of the sensors could wait; he now had something he needed to report.

Tokyo – Shibuya: Omnia Mega Mall, Some Time Later…

A group of nearly out of breath dancers rallied backstage, among whom were both Rise and Ann. The show was now behind them, and by the looks of things, everyone had given it everything they had and more.

It seemed as if all that effort had paid off, too. They could still hear the thunderous applause and cries coming from the audience, which showed no signs of dying down anytime soon.

"Great work, everyone!" Rise stated with a smile. "I've had a lot of concerts over the years, but honestly, that might've been the best one yet! And trust me, I'm not just saying that. Everything went off perfectly!"

"I couldn't agree more," said the stage manager, smiling pridefully at the group. "You've all done something today that should make you proud. I hope you all know that."

It was clear by the joyful expressions on everyone's faces that they did. They were then dismissed to head back to their dressing rooms and finally change out of their stage outfits, though the two twin-tailed young women had decided to stay behind.

"So, how did it feel being up on stage for the first time?" asked Rise.

"Honestly? I don't know if I can even describe it…" Ann said as if in awe of the experience.

Rise giggled. "Yeah, I get that. I felt the same way when I first started."

"I don't think what I was doing was even remotely on the level of what you did out there," Ann replied. "I mean, the way you faced that crowd all on your own and started to sing at the start… it was just incredible!"

"Come on, it wasn't anything special," was Rise's humble response.

"No, I'm serious!" Ann exclaimed. "When you started singing, it was like it was so good the entire crowd couldn't believe it! I couldn't even believe it!"

"Aw, you're gonna make me blush," Rise replied with a giggle. "Did they really react that way though? I was kinda so in the zone I didn't really notice…"

"Oh yeah," Ann stated with a firm nod.

"Rise-chaaan~!"

The overly-cheerful cry came from Teddie, though of course as was tradition, he was stopped by Yosuke before he could run up to the idol and wrap her in a bear-hug.

Behind those two were all the rest of their friends as they started to make their way towards them, each of them smiling brightly after seeing what was an unbelievably amazing show.

"Tone it down, Teddie," Yosuke sighed.

"Not that I blame him for being so hyped up, cuz' that show was totally off the charts!" Chie remarked cheerfully.

"Amen to that," said Futaba.

Sae nodded along. "I agree. I've never been to a concert before, and even I can tell I witnessed something incredible."

"Everything from the show itself to the color designs of the outfits were tuned to perfection," Yusuke stated.

"Well, you can thank Kanji over here for the style," Rise said with a teasing smile. "On top of designing all the outfits, he even had a hand in managing the special effects."

"C-Cut it out, you're makin' it sounds like I was the director or somethin'. All I did was design and make the clothes and give a few suggestions on the color palettes," Kanji replied, clearly a bit shy.

"In any case, you did a remarkable job," Naoto said.

"Definitely," agreed Yu.

Hearing the additional praise only made Kanji even more embarrassed, though he was clearly still happy to hear it.

"The clothes and the presentation were both incredible, but truth be told, the Rise-san's singing was what really amazed me," Haru chimed in.

"True that," Futaba stated in agreement. "When she started signing at the start, I was so amazed I couldn't even take my eyes off her. It was unreal!"

"I gotta say, it's definitely the best I've ever heard her sing," Kanji stated.

"What can I say? I was just in the zone, I guess," Rise said. Without missing a beat, she took on a sly, playful smile and moved towards Yu, wrapping her arm around his. "Anyway, we can talk about how amazing the show was while we walk. The afterparty's starting soon, so let's get a move on!"

The redhead started to drag Yu away, and of course the rest started to follow.

---

Within a decent-sized apartment sat a lone man hunched over a desk chair. He appeared to be quite young, likely in his early or at most mid-twenties. His hair was a deep black, and his eyes a standard brown.

To be honest, there wasn't anything remarkable about him at all. He looked like just an average person for the most part.

The room around him was dark, and in fact the only source of light around him was the glow from the computer monitors right in front of him. As he stared into them, his lips were set in an angry scowl and his eyes were filled with an agitated fire. He continued to furiously type with his keyboard so hard it sounded as if he were hitting it with a rock whenever he stroked a key.

"Freakin' small-brained idiots…!" he scoffed dismissively. "How the hell can anyone think something like that after that show? Are they crazy? Did they not watch it? Maybe they're just that dumb!"

After a few more minutes of the same furious typing on what was very likely Twitter, he got up from his computer and took several steps back. He took a deep breath to calm himself, apparently knowing that his temper was getting the better of him.

"Morons like that just piss me off," he sighed, taking another swig of water.

He looked back at his screen and found himself immediately fighting the urge to go back and tweet back and more 'morons'. Even so, he held himself back and shook his head free of any such thoughts.

"Nah, not worth my time to lecture those poser-ass fans."

"I couldn't agree more."

The black-haired man looked around with confusion and worry written all over his face. That, however, only lasted a second before realization hit him.

"Oh, wait, it must be coming from my computer," he thought aloud. "A video clip must've randomly opened up or something. I'll just go close it out."

He walked back over to his computer and scrolled through all his open windows. Strangely, he didn't find anything video-related that would've made that sound, but he shrugged it off and just closed out everything on his computer.

"There we go."

"Wrong screen."

The young man froze completely.

That wasn't a video just now; he'd heard a voice that was reacting to what he'd just done. He looked around frantically, but he didn't see anyone else in the room, and worse, what he'd heard didn't sound normal. The voice was oddly pleasant on his ears, but definitely not normal.

"W-Who's there?" the man asked, his voice shaking. "Show yourself!"

"Relax, I'm not going to hurt you. Just the opposite, in fact."

Without warning, the plasma TV in his living room turned on. It terrified the young man at first, but eventually, when the static started to fade, he found himself more surprised than anything else.

He moved up to the screen cautiously, squinting at it as if to see if what he was seeing was 'real'.

The man had a person that, to him, had earned his undying devotion. A beautiful, talented young woman—someone that nobody else in his mind could ever come close to holding a candle to.

That very same young woman was now on his TV. Clips and photos of her were playing on a loop on and on right in front of his very eyes.

"You care about her more than anything, don't you?" the voice asked. "You want to protect her, to make sure she succeeds no matter what… isn't that right?"

The man knew that something this disturbing should have made him want to run away. He knew that, and yet he found himself inching closer to the TV.

Even if the formless raspy voice was the speaker, the truth was those words had been taken from the depths of his own heart and mind. Running from it somehow felt like he was running from a part of himself, and he simply couldn't bring himself to do so.

"…yes, that's right," he finally answered. "She deserves someone like that."

There was a short pause—just long enough for the young man to wonder if the voice had left him. However, before he called out to it once again, it spoke up.

"That person can't be you. Not the way you are right now," the voice stated. "But… What if I could give you the power to become that person?"

Whatever was speaking to him, whether it was a god or a devil, a sinner or a saint—the brown-eyed man didn't care. Those words were more than tempting—as if they'd reached into the pits of his soul and dragged out his deepest, most cherished dream and offered it directly to him.

And moreover, something simply made him believe it was being serious.

"W-What do you mean?" he asked.

Yet again there was a pause, though it was not filled with silence. The TV screen started to shimmer, and out of it came a human-like hand. It was even darker than black, being perfectly visible even in the barely-lit room, and off of it came a foggy aura of the same color that would've sent chills down the bones of anyone looking at it for the first time.

However, the young man didn't find himself afraid. Somehow, he felt comfort.

"Let me show you."

"…before that," spoke the man, his voice no longer shaking. "Just what are you?"

"You can think of me as someone that can make your dream come true. If you have the will to make it happen, that is."

The man never hesitated for a second.

"I do."

With that, the blackened hand coated in darkness flexed its grip once more, waiting only for the man to clasp it with his own.

"And what do I call you?" asked the man.

That being that spoke from the TV took another pause. It was almost as if it was enjoying the fact that the question was asked.

"My name is Mephistopheles," it replied, its voice all but smiling as he spoke. "It's a pleasure to meet you."

Tokyo – Shibuya: Omnia Mega Mall

The entire cast and crew of the concert as well as their invited families and friends were scattered throughout the backstage area. Dozens of fringe conversations could be heard, and off in one corner specifically, the backup dancers were enjoying a drink with one another.

"Seriously though, you've got some skills, Ann-chan. I can't believe this was your first time out there!" a tall black-haired young woman stated with a warm smile.

"You're sure you don't want to make a career out of it?" another asked.

"Yeah, I'm sure," Ann answered, smiling cheerfully as she spoke. "I've got my heart set on modeling. Plus, I don't think I'd ever be anywhere near as good as all of you."

"Pretty and humble," the raven-haired one said amusedly. "But in all seriousness, it's good you've found your passion at a young age."

"I'm actually kind of jealous," another cooed. She giggled, adding, "Not about your age though. Nothing beats a drink after a big show like that."

"Amen to that," one stated. "Speaking of alcohol, I need more. Anyone wanna come with?"

Almost everyone immediately raised their hands, except of course Ann who wouldn't be able to even if she'd wanted.

"Guess it's unanimous. Well, almost."

"We'll catch you later, Ann-chan!"

With that, the group of young women were off to refill their drinks, leaving Ann to walk off to the far-side of the room to get a drink of her own. She wasn't alone long, though, as when she reached out for the large glass jug to pour herself a cup of water, a familiar raven-haired teen called out to her.

"Pretty nice party, don't you think?"

The blonde's head moved towards Ren as he leaned up against the wall right next to her. She greeted him with a bright smile as she almost always did.

"Yeah, it's a blast!" Ann replied. "I've only been to one or two afterparties from my modeling gigs before, but they weren't anything like this."

"I'm always down for a party like this. Hot girls and free food? Count me in!"

Ryuji approached the pair with a toothy grin. Clearly, he'd been enjoying himself so far.

"I'm amazed you can say stuff like that out loud," Ann sighed, fighting the urge to pinch the bridge of her nose.

"I'm a man that knows what he likes. Is that so wrong?" Ryuji asked with a shrug. He started to pour himself glass of water. "Ya know, the more I think about it, this is kinda unreal. It's crazy we're gettin' to go backstage after such an awesome concert, don't ya think?"

"It is pretty amazing," agreed Ren. He locked eyes with his closest female friend, adding, "That reminds me, you were right, by the way."

"Huh? What do you mean?" Ann asked confusedly.

"You did an amazing job out there, better than even I thought you'd do," Ren went on. He looked at her with his patented subtle but charming smile, saying, "I really was blown away."

Predictably, Ann averted her gaze and started to play with her hair, a slight blush now showing beneath her cheeks. Ryuji watched the entire thing play out with a suggestive look that he covered up by taking a sip of water from his cup, so he was more than sure that Ren couldn't see it.

"C-Come on, it wasn't anything all that special," Ann replied bashfully.

"Don't just take my word for it. You thought so too, right, Ryuji?" Ren inquired.

"Yeah, I gotta admit, she did a pretty damn good job," Ryuji said with a smile. "I was thinkin' she'd mess up—I dunno, at least once? Ya know, since she's so clumsy and all. She totally didn't though, and I gotta give her props for that!"

"Are you trying to make that sound like an insult, or can you seriously just not help it?" Ann asked tiredly

"Oh come on, you know what I mean," said Ryuji, waving off her question. "Point is, you nailed it."

The sound of a cute giggle caught the former delinquent's attention. When he casually looked over to see where it'd come from, he was surprised to find it was from the group of backup dancers that Ann had been talking to a few minutes back. They were trying to be subtle about it, but they were clearly stealing glances in both he and Ren's direction.

At first, Ryuji thought he was just seeing things, so he quickly turned his head away so as to not look awkward before he subtly tapped Ren's arm.

"Dude, am I crazy, or are those girls over there checkin' us out?" Ryuji asked.

The raven-haired Wild Card subtly glanced over at the group of backup dancers.

"No idea. It does seem like they're looking over at us though."

"True. They're definitely looking this way," Ann remarked.

"For real? Yes, I knew it!" Ryuji uttered excitedly. "Should I… should I go over there and talk to 'em or something?"

"Sure, go for it," Ren replied almost uncaringly.

Clearly, he didn't even understand why his friend was asking in the first place.

"Okay, sweet. C'mon, you're goin' in with me," Ryuji stated.

"Hm? Why?" Ren asked curiously.

"Dude, ain't that obvious? I can't go in solo—I need a wingman!" Ryuji replied. "Plus, we'll get to talk to the super-hot backup dancers from the show! I mean, when are we ever gonna get a chance like that again?"

"What do you mean? Ann's right here, isn't she?" Ren replied.

The blonde-haired model couldn't fight the goofy smile that started to creep onto her expression. Even if Ren hadn't meant it the way he did, she still found it sweet of him to say it so matter-of-factly like that.

"Okay, you're not wrong, but bro, we both know she doesn't count," Ryuji countered.

All of Ann's happiness at hearing Ren's comment vanished the second she heard Ryuji's. She glared daggers at him and was ready to give him a piece of her mind, but then suddenly, all of her anger vanished.

The blonde looked at Ryuji with a friendly smile as if nothing had happened at all.

"If you really want to talk to them that badly, I'll go over and introduce you. I can also put in a good word while I'm at it," Ann replied.

To say that the thuggish Persona user was stunned was an understatement.

"For real? You'd seriously do that?" Ryuji asked, his voice filled with both hope and shock.

"Yeah, sure thing!" Ann chirped. "Only if you want, of course."

"Hell yeah, that'd be great!" Ryuji almost shouted. "Ehem, I mean, uh… thanks, that'd be awesome."

"Don't sweat it," Ann replied. Her smile became almost too sweet as she added, "It'll be my pleasure."

As she walked away towards the group of beautiful young women, Ryuji could barely contain his excitement. Ren, however, was exactly the opposite. Just seeing the look on Ann's face right before she left alarm bells off in his head.

"Dude, is this really happening? Like, for real?" Ryuji wondered aloud. "Pinch me real quick so I know I'm not dreamin'."

"Geez, relax," Ren replied amusedly. "You're even more worked up than usual."

"Well, can ya blame me? Those girls are smokin' hot," Ryuji stated matter-of-factly. "You see that tall one with the short dark hair? She's totally my type looks-wise. A real mature-looking beauty with an amazing, balanced bod… she's, like, picture perfect!"

The two of them went quiet as Ann started to talk to the group of girls, and while Ren was more curious than anything else, Ryuji froze in anticipation. It was impossible for them to tell exactly what was being said, but they kept looking back at both Ryuji and Ren with smiles on their faces that looked almost playful.

When the conversation finally came to an end, each of the girls made their way towards them as a group.

Ryuji could hardly believe his eyes, and if he actually was dreaming, he didn't want to wake up. He calmed his nerves as best as he could and put on as charming a smile as he could give, and for what it was worth, he actually did a great job not looking too awkward.

It was a shame he wasn't ready for what came next.

"Ryuji-kun, right?" one of the girls asked in a friendly tone of voice as she pointed to the blond. "And you're Ren-kun?"

"Yep, that's us," Ryuji replied in kind. "Nice to meetcha'."

"Likewise," said another of the young women. "It's not often we run into two rare gems like you two."

"R-Rare gems? I dunno about that," Ryuji replied, blushing a bit at the perceived compliment.

"Oh, don't be so humble," the black-haired young woman among them began. "After all, society alone must put too much pressure on your relationship at your age that it's impressive you've even managed to be together at all."

It took less than a second after hearing that for Ryuji to freeze up on the spot. His pupils became the size of dots, and his entire body went numb. He had the overall look of a man that simply couldn't believe that what was around him was actually reality.

His eyes turned to Ann, who was looking over at him with the most devious smirk he'd ever seen. She could see the disbelief in his eyes as he realized what was going on, and she was clearly loving every second of it.

"So, how'd the two of you meet?" one of the dancers asked cheerfully.

At that point, Ryuji wanted to do nothing more than to clear up the misunderstanding as quick as was humanly possible. However, he was still too stunned to speak.

His 'better-half' however…

"It was around a year and a half ago," Ren answered. "I'd just transferred into Shujin, and my first day walking to school, I happened to bump into him. We became fast friends, and things just kind of went from there."

Although it seemed impossible, Ryuji somehow appeared even more shocked than he had even before. His head stiffly turned towards Ren, disbelief burning in his eyes all the while.

"And how long have you been together?"

"Around the same amount of time, actually," Ren answered pointedly. "He was the one to make the first move. He came up to me in the middle of the hallway at our school."

"Oooh, so daring," another said almost scandalously. "Ryuji-kun doesn't seem like the type, if I'm being honest."

"Well, someone mature with short dark hair is his type," Ren answered, sporting a bit of a playful smile as he spoke. "Maybe he just couldn't stay away."

Ryuji's jaw immediately dropped. At that point, his mind was just blank from the sheer feeling of disbelief that consumed him from head to toe. He could've been slapped across his face ten times then and there, and he probably wouldn't have even reacted.

"Anyway, we think it's super awesome that you two found each other," the tallest dancer said. "We'd love to stay and chat, but we've gotta go work the rest of the floor. You know, gotta go mingle with the agency reps that're here. See ya~!"

As the girls waved goodbye to a straight-faced Ren and a stunned Ryuji, the one with short dark hair looked back over her shoulder.

"It's a bit of a shame. You're both so cute I almost wanna say it's a waste. Only kidding, of course."

Hearing that snapped Ryuji out of his trance. He twisted himself around in an instant, reaching out to the group of girls as they became further and further out of his reach.

"H-Hang on, it's not a waste! I'm not—I mean, we're not—!" Ryuji exclaimed.

"Oh, I see," Ren uttered in a deadpanned voice. "I guess I'm not enough for you anymore? Even after all this time?"

"It's sad he doesn't value your relationship more," Ann remarked sarcastically.

Again, Ryuji turned around, although his shock and disbelief were now replaced with raw anger and annoyance. That didn't phase either of his two friends, though. Ann in particular just shot him a smug grin.

"Okay, for starters…" Ryuji began, his eyes narrowing. "Ann, what-the-effin'-hell?! Why did you do that?!"

"You mean why did I tell them you and Ren were dating?" Ann replied with a knowing smirk.

"This is no time to be jokin' around!" Ryuji shouted. "Obviously, yes! The hell else could I be askin' about?! And I thought you said you were gonna go put in a good word!"

"Well, I was totally going to," Ann began, her voice heavy with sarcasm. In an instant, her eyes fixed in a glare. "But then I remembered: Oh wait, I don't count. I guess that means he wouldn't want my help anyway~."

"That's why you did it? Are you shittin' me?!" Ryuji exclaimed in disbelief, his voice cracking as he spoke. His eyes shifted over towards his best friend. "And you… you…!"

"Yes, I'm me," Ren answered.

"Don't you start," Ryuji grumbled, pointing an accusatory finger at the raven-haired teen. "Bro, why the eff did you roll with it?! Were you trying to help her get back and me or somethin'?!"

"No, not at all," Ren replied with a shake of his head. "I did it mostly because I thought it'd be funny."

"Which it was," Ann said cheerfully.

"Thanks, I thought so, too."

The blond-haired young man pinched the bridge of his nose and took several deep breaths.

"…I hate both of you," Ryuji said through gritted teeth. "I hate you both so much. Just… so, so much."

"Alright, alright. If you're that upset about it, I'll make it up to you," Ren stated.

"Oh really? And how's that?" Ryuji pressed, skepticism clear in his voice.

"I'll treat you to ramen at that new place on—"

Before the Wild Card even finished his sentence, Ryuji had already thrown his arm over his shoulder, grinning all the while.

His mood switch was so obvious he may as well have been wearing a shirt that read 'I forgive you' right across his chest.

"Wow, that was fast," said Ann through a laugh.

Ryuji shrugged. "What can I say? Girls are pretty alright, but compared to great ramen with my best bro that I don't have to pay for? Pfft, no contest."

Both Ren and Ann had the same reaction to his words. They rolled their eyes and almost on reflex shared an amused look with one another.

"The man knows what he likes," Ren said jokingly.

"Clearly," laughed Ann. "Speaking of food though, I could go for some right about now. You two feel like hitting the buffet?"

"I could eat," Ren replied.

"Uh, d'ya even need to ask?" Ryuji asked rhetorically. "C'mon, what're we waitin' for? Food's not gonna get any warmer!"

"Right behind you."

---

"Yeah, that shouldn't be a problem," Yu said into his phone. "I'll make sure to give you an update first thing tomorrow morning on the Kushizawa trial. Giving you the short version, our case is rock solid, so there's nothing to worry about."

The silver-haired young man leaned against a nearby wall as he finished up his conversation with his boss. He'd slipped away from the afterparty into a nearby hallway, though thankfully it didn't seem like he'd be away for very long.

"Yes, sir," Yu replied. "Alright, have a good night."

He hung up and headed back into the backstage area, and while he quickly started looking for any of his friends nearby, one of them instead found him.

Someone softly bumped into his side, and he knew almost immediately that it was Rise. He turned to see the redhead looking at him with a soft smile and her hands cutely behind her back for a moment.

"Everything okay?" asked Rise.

"Yeah, just work stuff," Yu replied.

"Right, you had to take half the day off to be here…" Rise muttered, sounding as if she'd completely forgotten that detail. "Sorry about that."

Yu shook his head and smiled. "Don't be. I wouldn't have missed this for the world, you know that."

"Of course you'd say that," Rise replied amusedly.

"You say that like you're not happy to hear it," Yu said teasingly.

Knowing he was right instantly turned her cheeks a subtle shade of red.

"W-Well, that's beside the point."

"It seems pretty relevant to me."

"Quit being a lawyer already. You're off the clock, remember?" Rise replied jokingly.

"Tell that to my boss."

The two shared a laugh with each other, after which the redheaded beauty became a bit more serious.

"So, what'd you enjoy most about the show?" asked Rise.

Her question seemed simple enough, but Yu knew that it wasn't. Even without their little talk before the show, after a performance like that, there's no way he couldn't know what she was really asking.

His best option, or so he thought, was to do what he always did and act oblivious—to say he didn't have a favorite part since everything was so good. Then, when she pressed him, just call her singing 'great' and move on.

However, that hopeful look in her eyes, even if she tried to hide it, was too much for him to ignore.

"Your singing," Yu stated, his voice soft and sincere. "When you stepped out on center stage and started to sing, I'll admit, I was speechless. I've never heard anything like that before, and to be honest, I don't know if I ever will again. I can't explain it, but… it just…"

The Wild Card trailed off, clearly having a hard time finding the right words to use, though the truth was that he'd more or less said everything he could bring himself to say.

For Rise's part, she was stunned. She'd expected him to give a generic, polite, and dodgy answer to her question, but he didn't. Somehow, someway, it seemed as if she'd gotten through to him, even if it was only just a little.

She knew without any doubt that a part of him understood, and that alone was more than enough to make her happy. At least for now.

"It's okay, I understand what you're trying to say," Rise said with a smile. "Sometimes music just speaks to people, even if it can be difficult to understand exactly how."

"…yeah," Yu replied.

There was a silence as the two kept eye-contact, though before either of them could say so much as a word, the stage director for the concert appeared out of nowhere and walked up to the idol's side.

"Ah, Rise, there you are," she stated.

Rise jolted. "Son of a—Mikage-san, don't sneak up on me like that!"

"I wouldn't have if it wasn't urgent. Your agency is trying to get ahold of you, and…" the woman stopped herself and looked back and forth between the two Persona users. "Sorry, am I interrupting something?"

'Not anymore!' Rise grumbled in thought. She gave a forced smile towards the stage manager. "It's fine, tell them I'll go get my phone in a sec."

"Will do."

Just like that, she walked off and vanished from sight with the efficiency drive you'd expect from someone that was still wearing their stage headset even during an afterparty.

Rise laughed bitterly. "Guess both our jobs don't have an off-switch, huh?"

"Guess so," said Yu.

"I'll catch you later. And who knows? Maybe I'll even run into you later tonight, neighbor," replied Rise.

She winked at him playfully before she ran off towards her dressing room to get her phone, leaving a very relieved Yu Narukami.

'Saved by the bell,' Yu thought.

Tokyo – Shibuya: Residential Area

Akihiko sat in place with a serious look on his face while his phone continued to ring. He waited patiently for the other side to pick up, though given it wasn't one of his regularly scheduled reports, he wasn't really expecting anyone to pick up.

Thankfully, luck was on his side, and he heard someone answer from the other end.

"Ye—Aki—ko?"

"Sorry, the connections a bit choppy. Can you hear me okay?" Akihiko inquired.

"—ive—moment. There, connection has been optimized."

"Aigis?" Akihiko uttered. "That is you, right?"

"Not just her," another feminine voice chimed in. "Hey, Akihiko. What's up?"

"Yukari-san, I advise that we delay any 'small talk' until after Akihiko-san states his reason for calling. It is likely of a serious nature given he is contacting us outside of his designated check-ins."

"It better be for him to call at six in the morning."

"Trust me, it is, and you were right on the money there, Aigis," Akihiko replied. "Is the boss lady with you guys? Or no?"

"No, she got up about an hour ago to take care of something for the Kirijo group. No idea when she'll be back."

"I estimate it will be approximately four hours with a fifteen-minute margin of error."

"…so she says."

"Then I'll leave it to you guys to relay the message," Akihiko said. "I got visual confirmation earlier today. He's back, no doubt about it—right here in Tokyo."

The other end of the call went silent for a time as the weight of what was said finally sank in.

"Has he started to cause any trouble yet?" Yukari asked, her tone now distinctly more serious than before.

"None that I know of," answered Akihiko as he sunk back down into his chair. "However, I don't think it'll stay that way for much longer. I got the feeling he showed himself to me in the Metaverse for that very reason."

"You think he'll make a move soon, then?"

"I do," Akihiko stated. "He could've just been messing with me, but something tells me that wasn't all he wanted to do."

There was another pause on the other side of the line.

"We'll see if we can head back to Japan sooner rather than later," Yukari stated. "Something tells me it won't be difficult to make that happen now that we know for sure who we're dealing with."

"Good, glad to hear it," Akihiko replied. "There shouldn't be any problems dealing with him in the meantime, but something tells me he's working towards something big. I just… I just get a bad feeling about it."

"Copy that. Take care, Akihiko."

"Be safe, Akihiko-san."

"Same to you," he replied.

Tokyo – Shibuya: Fukushima Towers, Some Time Later…

The Wild Cards entered their apartment and flipped on the lights before sitting down near on the kitchen counter. It felt amazing to give their legs a break after being on their feet for basically the entire day up until that point.

"Well, my legs are killing me, but that show was definitely worth it," Yu stated.

"For sure," Ren agreed. "Everything about it was almost perfect I honestly couldn't believe it. Are all of Rise-san's concerts so—"

Joker's phone started to buzz as he received a message, and clearly it was important enough for him to pause his speech to respond.

"All good?" Yu asked casually.

"Yeah, that was just Sojiro," Ren replied, adopting a noticeable smile. "Looks like the repairs to Leblanc will be done in a few days. If everything goes well, I should be able to move back in around when classes start up again at Shujin."

"That's great to hear. Has he had any trouble with getting insurance to pay for the damages?"

"Nope. Thanks again for helping him out with that," Ren replied. He gave off a slight laugh, adding, "That, and for letting me stay here for a while."

"My pleasure," Yu stated.

As Ren went to get himself a drink of water, he took his glasses off and placed them on the granite countertop without giving it a second thought. He got around perfectly fine without them—clearly having no problems seeing anything around him whatsoever. In fact, he looked so natural to the point that the other Wild Card couldn't help but notice.

"You know, I've been meaning to ask this for a while now, but… why do you wear those glasses?" Yu abruptly inquired.

"Hm?" Ren uttered, sounding a bit surprised at hearing the question.

"They're just for aesthetics, so you don't really need them for your eyesight, right?" Yu explained.

"True, I don't need them to see better. Actually, they sometimes make it harder to see since the get fogged up sometimes…" replied Ren, ignoring his own frustration with that fact.

"So then why do you wear them?"

"Just to stand out less. I actually started to wear them just after I was convicted," Ren answered. "Since I had a record from that point on, I thought it was better to do everything I could to stand out less and look as non-threatening as I could. That's how I ended up with the glasses, and it's also why I never bothered to style my hair or anything. I also started to keep to myself as best I could. All that didn't help much at Shujin, though. When I first got there, everyone already knew I'd been arrested because of a teacher—you know, the same scumbag I've mentioned to you before. Still, I kept it up. Even if it didn't work all that well at school, it definitely worked just about everywhere else."

"I'm sorry to hear that," Yu uttered, a sympathetic tone to his voice. "It must've been tough to hide your real self like that."

"It was, but it was something I felt I needed to do," Ren replied. He frowned briefly, saying, "It's not that I regrated trying to help that woman, but at that point, I only thought of the 'real me' as the reason I was arrested in the first place. I know it sounds stupid in hindsight, but after everything that happened…"

"I understand," said Yu honestly. "Still, with your record cleared now, have you ever thought about taking them off? You know, for good?"

Ren opened his mouth to respond, but ultimately said nothing. It surprised him to realize that he'd never really asked himself that question before, so he didn't really have a good answer.

After a minute or so of silence, he gave his response.

"To be honest, no, I've never really thought about it before," Ren admitted.

"They do say that old habits die hard," Yu remarked. "Although honestly, I don't think you ever needed to hide who you really were in the first place. Having gotten to know you pretty well over the past month or so, I can safely say the 'real you' is pretty alright."

Ren laughed dryly. "Thanks, I'll keep that in mind."

"And that's all I ask," Yu replied with a sly smirk. "Anyway, I'm gonna head upstairs and take care of a bit of work I've got left. Just let me know if you need anything."

"Yeah, will do. Thanks," Ren replied.

---

Yu entered his room quietly, though the moment the door was closed, he let loose a deep, tired sigh that he'd been holding in for hours. It was funny how in a day where he'd had to deal with five active cases in half the usual time, the most stressful thing about his day had happened when he was supposed to be relaxing.

Just hours ago, he was almost certain that Rise was just a few short sentences away from confessing to him directly. That didn't happen, of course, but she was closer than she'd ever been before.

"If the stage manager hadn't shown up when she did, would she have…?" Yu wondered aloud.

Although he didn't know the answer, it was getting painfully clear that as more time passed, the more likely it became that she'd finally pull the trigger.

Yu sighed once more. "I've only got myself to blame for that. There was always going to be a point when she'd get tired of me 'not getting it', right? And she was never going to quit… She never does when she's serious about something."

He briefly started to wonder how exactly he'd respond when that moment inevitably came, but a part of him, like always, refused to even think about it.

Of course, that only made him even more frustrated.

"I may as well just get some work done," Yu muttered to himself. "This is the last thing I want to be thinking about right now."

---

The inside of Ren's room was completely silent with the only light being that of a ceiling fan. Ren himself was laying on his bed, casually staring upwards with his hands tucked behind his head.

As time went on, the Wild Card kept the same thoughtful expression. Eventually, after what felt like minute after minute of deep thought, his head drifted over towards his nightstand where his eyes fixed on his glasses.

'Why do I still wear them, huh…?' Ren wondered.

Ever since his conversation with Yu had ended, he couldn't stop thinking about exactly that. He just didn't have a good answer.

Ren looked back up at the ceiling. "Maybe Yu was right… maybe it is just a habit."

Abruptly, he got up from his bed and grabbed his glasses before heading to the bathroom. He turned the lights on and put on his glasses, admiring himself in the mirror for a little bit.

Then, after a while, he took them off, and did the same thing all over again.

He couldn't help but notice how such a small change made him look so different. He seemed so much more confident and self-assured even to himself, and the only real change was that his eyes were showing versus them being hidden slightly beneath the glass lenses.

"Mom always did say I had confident eyes…" Ren said absentmindedly.

He shook his head clear of any thoughts of his mother and got back to looking in the mirror. Soon enough, he began to think that the biggest difference wasn't how he looked—it was how he felt. When he was wearing his glasses, he felt quieter and subdued.

It was like he wasn't being himself when he had them on.

Then again, that had been the whole point of them in the first place.

'That's just it though: there's not a reason for me to do that anymore,' Ren reasoned. 'And maybe… there never was one in the first place.'

Ren thought back to Yu's words about how maybe he didn't need to hide his true self in the first place. Over the past year or so, he'd made so many connections he'd cherish for however long he physically could, and each and every one of them had happened because he was being his 'true self'.

In fact, if he'd stayed true to the mask he'd willing put on his face, so much would've changed.

He might never have awakened to his Persona and saved Ryuji.

He might never have chased after Ann in the subway, refusing to stay still if it meant leaving her to suffer all on her own.

He might never have followed through on the Madarame case and just have let Yusuke continue to lie to himself.

He might never have been able to convince Makoto to pursue her own justice and join the Phantom Thieves.

He might never have been able to save Futaba from herself.

He might never have helped Haru break free from the control her father had over her.

And he certainly wouldn't have been able to stop Yaldabaoth.

Ren looked back at his glasses, and the more he thought on it, the more he came to realize that they weren't so much a mask as they were another set of shackles, and one he'd put on himself. They weren't helping him; they were just forcing him to be something that he wasn't.

And he didn't need to be that 'something' anymore.

"Guess there's only one thing to do," Ren stated plainly.

Without giving it a second thought, he tossed the fake pair of glasses into the trashcan. He then looked back into the mirror, paying particular attention to his hair.

"Hmm, well, it has been a while since I've gotten it cut," Ren mused. "Maybe something I'll do tomorrow."

A/N Aaaand done. Okay, so the next chapter will be posted next Friday, and there's no much else to say here. Hope you all enjoyed the chapter, and look forward to the next one!

Explanations:

Next Chapter: It'll be back to school for the Phantom Thieves, and maaaaaybe a new look for everyone's favorite raven-haired protag. Maybe a few other surprises, too.

Futaba's Realization: Just to clarify, she knows Ann likes Ren, she doesn't know that Makoto likes Ren.

Ren Taking off His 'Mask': I've always kinda hated that he continues to wear his glasses after his record gets cleared. In fact, one of my favorite things about P5 Vanilla's ending is that in the end, he's not wearing his glasses as a sign that he no longer needs to hide his true self anymore. So, from this point onwards, he won't be wearing the glasses, and there are a few other changes that'll be more obvious as of the next chapter. His core character arc is also coming up shortly thereafter, or at least the start of it.

Mephistopheles, AKA Mephisto: That is the name of the Shade, and the name comes from the legend of Faust to anyone that's familiar. His whole 'thing' is the idea of making a deal with the devil, and the idea of 'deals' is centric to his character for reasons I won't get into here and now. What he always 'gives', though, is the power of a Persona and access to the Metaverse. The next chunk of overall plot centers exclusively around him. As for what he is or what his goals are, only time will tell.

Mika: I just see her and Ann's relationship as a cut and dry 'frenemies' sort of thing. Just a more aggressive version of Ryuji and Morgana tbh. For those of you wondering why she was even in this chapter, it's for setup reasons. She'll show up again pretty soon.

Shadow Operatives: They're still going to be a while off as I said before.