Sojiro Sakura didn't know what to expect when the two of them walked in the door. The first, a woman in her thirties or so, seemed normal enough, but the young girl next to her looked anything but ordinary. Her short, pixie-cut hair was bright red, the floofy sleeves of her sweater were comically wide at the cuffs, and her bright blue eyes looked just a little bit unnatural, though even Sojiro couldn't deny that the small girl was cute.

"Welcome," he greeted the two of them. "What can I get for you?"

"Oh, nothing much," the woman replied in a bubbly tone. "We're just looking for a nice game of cards."

Sojiro raised his eyebrow. That passphrase again. "Where did you learn about that?"

"Oh, we had a little encounter with the Kirijo Group some weeks ago and asked for their assistance with something," the woman answered. "Kirijo-san couldn't help but mention this place to us and we figured we'd stop by and say hello to a couple of old friends."

"You know them?"

"Ren and the others?" the red-haired girl spoke for the first time. "We know each other very well."

"Alright, I'll let anyone up there know you're down here," Sojiro relented. "In the meantime, what do I call you and would you like anything from the menu?"

"Oh, apologies for our rudeness," the woman exclaimed. "My name is Kuon Ichinose. A pleasure to make your acquaintance. I'll have a house blend, if you don't mind."

"I am Sophia, humanity's companion," the girl said sweetly. "I am an AI, so I do not require food, although I wish I could taste it…" She trailed off sadly.

"One step at a time, Sophia," Ichinose reminded the small girl. "If it weren't for the Kirijo Group's kindness, you wouldn't even be able to enjoy having a body right now. We have plenty of time to work on allowing you to enjoy the pleasures of taste and smell."

Sojiro's eyes momentarily widened in surprise before he shook his head with an expression of reluctant acceptance. "Geez, every time I think that kid's done it all, he finds some new way to blow all my expectations out of the water. Fine, you two. I'll let whoever's upstairs know you're here and whip up a house blend for Ichinose-san. You can have a seat in the meantime." He walked toward the back to the comm system Futaba had installed earlier that week.

Ren jumped almost three feet in the air when Futaba barged into his room in the Thieves' Den. The golden Vane of Order he'd been fiddling with fell to the floor with a clatter.

"REN! YOU WOULDN'T BELIEVE WHO JUST SHOWED UP AT THE CAFÉ!"

"What? Who?"

"IT'S SOPHIE! AND ICHINOSE! THEY'RE BACK! AND SOPHIE HAS A BODY!"

"WHAT!?" Ren sprang up from his bed and barged past Futaba out into the hall. Shifting momentarily into Thief gear, he leaped over the banister and dropped straight down to the second floor, shifting back as he dashed over to the secret door, yanked it open, and charged down the stairs into the café, where Sojiro was just returning from the back.

"Geez, kid!" Sojiro scolded. "Quiet down! This is a restaurant, you know!"

"Sorry, Boss," Ren said briefly before his gaze zeroed in on the sight of a familiar red pixie cut. Ren forced himself to slow to a quick walk before halting in front of the booth.

Sophia had already turned to face him. "Hello again, Ren," she smiled sweetly.

"Hellooo!" Ichinose sang. "Good to meet you again!"

"Sophia! Ichinose! What are you two doing here?" Ren stammered out.

"Funny story," Ichinose remarked. "A little before the Outbreak, Sophia and I caught wind of a group of government operatives that deal in ultra top secret shady stuff based on a little story I heard about a little town a few hours from here. After doing a little digging, it turned out that they had at least a couple of members who appeared to be at least partially robotic, though they certainly acted more or less like humans. We thought they would be worth looking into, so after the Outbreak occurred, we went looking for them. It turns out that they're led by another group of Persona-users. What are the odds, right?"

"Yes, the rest of us are familiar with the Shadow Operatives," Ren told them, taking a seat across from them. "Mitsuru Kirijo herself stopped by last month to get in touch with the Phantom Thieves."

Sophia picked up, "We wanted to see if they would offer Ichinose and me a job, but after we both learned each of us were familiar with Personas and Shadows, Kirijo-san offered to have some of her engineers build me a body from the remnants of their old Anti Shadow Suppression Weapon models."

"And then once your body was done, you decided to come here?" Ren asked.

"I wanted to see my friends again," Sophia said simply.

Ichinose continued, "After this little vacation, I'm going to be working for the Shadow Operatives full-time. We're going to see just how many little brothers and sisters we can make for Sophia."

"Well, in that case," Ren concluded, rising to his feet, "let's continue this discussion upstairs. It seems we have a lot to discuss."

Akane never got tired of entering the Thieves' Den now that it was done and decorated. There was just something about the secret door in the attic of Leblanc sliding open to reveal a wide black-walled room with bright red carpet decorated with Yusuke's artwork of various Shadows and the Thieves' Personas that always felt so awesome to her. As always, she walked into the room as the door slid shut behind her and stood in front of one of Yusuke's latest pieces, a painting of her and her own Persona, Cosette. She would never get tired of seeing the fearsome expression Yusuke had painted, nor the black-and-red over-the-top outfit that was her Thief attire.

"You are Akane, correct?" came a soft voice at her elbow.

"Ah!" Startled, Akane leapt back and instinctively shifted into Phantom Thief gear. The speaker turned out to be a small girl about her age with short bright red hair and a floofy white sweater tilting her head in confusion.

"Oh, I'm sorry. Did I startle you?" the new girl asked. Something about her voice sounded...just a little bit off.

Akane exhaled and returned to her normal clothes. "Just a little bit, yeah. Who are you?"

"I am Sophia, humanity's companion," Sophia answered with a smile. "I remember you from the Kyoto Jail, Akane Hasegawa. Are you okay now?"

"Sophia? Jail?" Akane was confused for a second before she recalled her father's story about last summer's events. "Oh, you're that AI girl who joined the Phantom Thieves last summer to help them stop Konoe and EMMA! You have a body in the real world now?"

"Yes," Sophia replied, bouncing up and down a little. "It's not a flesh body, but I am still grateful to the Shadow Operatives for making it for me. But you did not answer my question. Are you okay now?"

"I'm more than okay!" Akane said giddily. "I have a Persona and my dad and I are Phantom Thieves! It's a dream come true!"

"You seem very happy," Sophia noted with a smile. "That makes me happy too. Hmhm-hmhm " The little AI started humming to herself.

"So, Sophia," Akane ventured. "You have a Persona, right?"

"Yes, that is correct."

"What happens when you try to use it now?"

Sophia frowned in thought. "I have not tried it yet. But I should be able to."

Akane grinned. "In that case, let's head to the roof and try it out. If you're going to be using your Persona again, you're most likely going to need practice."

"Okay," Sophia said brightly. "Let's go!"

Ichinose had an unusually concentrated expression as she examined the Vane of Order. "You said this thing used to be a part of an evil god?"

"Essentially," Ren confirmed. "And apparently a whole bunch of them have been scattered across Japan, and while the Shadow Operatives ought to know by now, I didn't think the news had gotten to you yet, so I thought you should know."

"Hmm." Ichinose tossed the gold feather back to Ren. "So far we know that these Vanes can conceal themselves from prying eyes, attract Shadows, control the minds of anyone who isn't at least a Sage Class Persona-user, and sometimes allow someone with a strong enough mind to actually awaken a Persona and become a Hunter Class Persona-user. Anything else?"

"That's all we know of for sure at least," Futaba answered.

"Well, in any case this god of control apparently had the ability to warp reality according to your stories," Ichinose pointed out. "Think any of that might have been left behind?"

"Well, I might be able to give it a shot," Futaba replied, shifting into Thief gear and taking the Vane from Ren. Holographic screens and lines of runic text swirled in the air around her as she focused on the object, scanning its power levels. "This thing definitely feels like that Fake Igor, I'll give it that, just a lot smaller. The faker was strong enough to combine reality with Mementos. This thing? Could probably change someone's outfit at best. It's like comparing a thunderstorm to a watch battery."

"Still, they can change reality, right?" Ren asked. A hint of a smirk crept into his voice.

Futaba's head shot up. "You're not thinking what I think you're thinking, are you?"

"What are we doing?" Morgana demanded. Futaba, Ren, and Ichinose had dragged him up to the roof, where Sophie and Raven had been practicing with their Persona powers and now looked on with curiosity.

"Testing a theory," Ren said simply.

"You're experimenting on me?" Morgana demanded, crossing his little arms. "What makes you think I'm going to be okay with this?"

"Trust me, kitty," Oracle told him, "if this works, you'll have something you've wanted since before I even knew ya."

"What?" Morgana asked, confused by her vague answer.

"Aaand, done!" Oracle held up the Vane of Order and tapped one last finger on the screen in front of her, simultaneously summoning Al Azif above her. She raised the Vane of Order above her head, and a beam of light shot down from the triangular UFO, bounced off the Vane of Order, and illuminated Morgana.

"Mreeeoooww!" Morgana screeched, surprised. "What are you-!" The light around Morgana suddenly flashed, brightening for a second before erupting in blue fire and finally fading. Ichinose, Akane, and Sophia's eyes all widened as they realized what Futaba had done.

Sitting on the rooftop was a small, black-haired boy, perhaps around twelve years old, rubbing his head with one hand as though he'd just bumped it. His shirt was as black as his hair, and his brown-belted cargo shorts were a very pale tan. His face and messy hair were surprisingly similar to Ren's, minus his bright blue eyes. He raised his grimacing face and glared at Oracle as she dissolved her Persona and Thief gear so she could better admire her handiwork.

Then something in his hair twitched, and Futaba immediately froze. A pair of black cat ears poked up from his messy black hair. Ren spotted a hint of a tail poking out of his shorts, but Futaba was entirely focused on the twitching cat ears.

"What the hell, Oracle? What were you-" Morgana started to say, but then he caught sight of his now very human arms and legs. He stared at his new form as he realized what Futaba had done. "...trying to...do…" He trailed off.

"SO CUUUUTE!" Futaba suddenly shrieked, causing everyone else to jump back in alarm. Futaba immediately sprang forward and seized Morgana around his head and began to pet his furry ears.

"Mraah!" Morgana squeaked as his nose ended up in Futaba's armpit. "Leggo off me!"

Futaba was chattering nonstop. "I can't believe it! I'm a genius! I can't believe I actually just did that!"

"Futaba!" Ren barked, picking her up by the back of her jacket.

"Wah!" she protested. "Nooo, I want more cute cat boy!"

"Futaba, enough! You'll suffocate him!"

Futaba reluctantly released Morgana and went limp in Ren's arms. "Sorry…"

Morgana struggled to his feet and looked over his new form. "How in the world did you do this?"

Futaba brightened again. "Well, Ichinose suggested that the Vanes of Order might contain remnants of Fake Igor's ability to mess with reality, and when I confirmed it, Ren suggested I combine it with my hacking to give you a human form. I probably wouldn't have been able to do it if it had been a normal cat, but given how badly you want to become human and how you're used to transforming, it went a lot more smoothly than it would otherwise. Honestly though, the result we got was a lot better than you just being another normal, boring human. Because you, my friend, have adorable little kitty ears!"

Morgana clapped his hands over his ears and pouted at her. Trying to change the subject, Akane asked, "Can you still transform though?"

Morgana considered the question. "Probably. I'm going to try." He scrunched his face in concentration, and with a poof of smoke, he was a cat again. "Seems like it," Morgana replied.

"Can you please go back to cute kitty boy form?" Futaba begged.

Morgana drew back. "Only if you promise not to try to pet my ears while I'm in human form!" he said firmly.

"Aww…"

Morgana shifted back into his new mostly-human form. "This might be an improvement over my old Thief transformation, but I can't help but think this isn't that much better."

The other Phantom Thieves had predictable reactions.

Ryuji: "WHAAAT? YOU CAN DO THAT, FUTABA?"

Ann: "HE HAS LITTLE KITTY EARS! OH MY GOD HE'S SO CUUUUTEE!"

Yusuke: "Inspiration has struck! I must capture the moment that allowed our comrade to achieve this dream!"

Makoto: "Whose idea was this? Why didn't you check if it was safe beforehand?"

Haru: "Your ears are so cute and fluffy, I want to pet them!"

Sumire: "He really is adorable, huh?"

"Alright, alright!" Ren called out, getting everyone's attention. "Could you all please calm down. Give Mona some space to breathe, alright?"

The other Thieves gave a string of "Awww,"s and mumbled apologies as they backed off. Morgana shot Ren a look of gratitude.

"So, risks of doing this aside, what does this mean for Morgana now?" Makoto asked.

"He's still probably going to experience some difficulty mingling into normal human society," Yusuke hypothesized.

"What do you mean?" Morgana asked.

"Cat ears aside, you have the appearance of a child but don't have any parents or a legal guardian," Makoto explained. "Not only that, you also don't have any documentation proving your birth or citizenship."

"Yeah, and that's assuming I can hide the ears," Morgana lamented. "Still, other than my most human-looking form now looking almost entirely human, not much has changed. I can still turn into a cat and a van, I can still use Diego, and I'm still living with Ren. About the only thing that being able to look like a human means is that I don't have to rely on all of you for everything. If I can figure out a way to earn some money, I can go out and buy my own food. Also a big help that having a human form makes it much easier to craft lockpicks, open doors, and use phones and computers."

"Although, that's got me thinking," Oracle mused. "Is the whole thing about people not being able to hear you talk while you're a cat still going to be a thing? Because that's going to be a bit of a problem if someone who's seen you out in public before can suddenly hear a cat talking."

Morgana gave it some thought. "I'm not entirely sure, but since this form isn't very catlike anymore besides the ears and tail, it's entirely possible that people might start disassociating my cat form and my human form. That could cause anyone who's seen my human form to not realize my cat form can also speak until they realize they're both me."

"That could be the case, although we'll have to test it to be sure," Haru reasoned.

"But that brings up another question," Akane ventured. "I heard people mention before how that other group of older Persona-users, the Investigation Team, they heard Morgana talking while he was still in cat form, before he transformed, but after I became Raven and I woke up with Morgana in my room, I still heard meowing before Morgana transformed. What's up with that?"

Everyone looked at Morgana again. He could only shrug. "Who knows? Could be something about that group that allows them to see past my meowing and hear me speak. Could be they heard me talk when neither of us realized. Either way, I'll file it under the 'we'll probably never know' category."

Sophia cocked her head to one side. "If you can use a Vane of Order to almost turn Mona into a human, does that mean you can turn this body into a human one too?"

Futaba shook her head. "Might be, but the Vane ran out of power after I used it on Mona, and he was used to transforming. Even if it recharges, I don't think it'll be strong enough to turn all your new robotic parts into organic ones. Best not to try until we have more Vanes of Order and are absolutely certain we have enough power to transform you completely."

"Understood," Sophia answered. "I have a new goal. I want to search for more of these Vanes of Order."

"Wait," Ryuji interrupted. "Don't you have to go with Ichinose when she goes back to the Shadow Ops or whatever?"

"It's no problem," Ichinose trilled. "Sophia has been linked to my phone. As long as I have service, she and I can communicate at any time. It's perfectly fine if she stays with you all in the meantime. In fact it would probably be better, as she would get the chance to test her new body in actual combat. I'm going to be working more on the coding side of things with the Shadow Operatives anyway, so it's not really necessary that her body stays with me."

"Thank you, Ichinose!" Sophia sang, bouncing a little.

Ichinose smiled at her little AI daughter before turning to the rest of the Thieves. "If you ever need my or the Shadow Operatives' help, you can contact us through Sophia. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a few errands to run here in the city. I'll be back for a little dinner down in the café, but after that, I should probably get going back to Tatsumi Port Island. Bye for now, Phantom Thieves!"