"So you're going on a date with Ren-senpai today?" Sumire asked.

She and the former student council president were sitting in Makoto's room in the Thieves' Den, Makoto on the chair at her desk and Sumire on the bed. Makoto's room in the Thieves' Den was fairly simplistic, white-walled and clean with a bed, a desk, a dresser, a bookshelf, a rack of heavy training weights, and a punching bag hanging from the ceiling. The whites were accentuated with black and dark blue, reminiscent of the colors of her Thief attire. Makoto didn't actually live in her room in the Thieves' Den, none of them did, but it was nice to have a place to crash after a long night of tracking down Vanes of Order and slaying Shadows, so each of the Thieves had their own room in the building.

Makoto nodded to Sumire's question. "Lunch downstairs in the café, then we'll head down to the arcade for some games, watch a movie, and finish it off with dinner at a restaurant Boss picked out in Shibuya. We've got the entire afternoon booked solid." Makoto rose to her feet. "I should probably head downstairs. Don't want to keep him waiting after all."

"I'll come with you," Sumire offered, following her out.

"Okay," Makoto started, "but only until the café. Remember, this is supposed to be a date. That means just me and him. No spying. Okay?"

Sumire giggled a little. "Don't worry, we've stopped doing that. Honestly though, seeing you with Ren-senpai…" She trailed off.

"Jealous?"Makoto teased.

To her surprise, Sumire gave a reluctant nod. "I...I actually confessed to him...during the Maruki incident."

Makoto's eyebrows shot up, but the words were tumbling out of Sumire's mouth without stopping. "I'm sorry! I didn't know he was with you, and he was always so nice to me even when I told him I didn't deserve it, and-"

"Stop, stop!" Makoto was on the verge of laughter. "Relax. I'm not going to start accusing you of anything. You forget, I know both you and Ren, so I know that neither of you would try anything underhanded like that."

"Honestly, I think most of us have had a crush on him at some point or another." Ann remarked from the bottom of the stairs. The other two girls spun to look at her. "It didn't last very long with me. There were a couple times when I thought I felt something for him during that year he was on probation, especially after Shiho moved, but…*sigh* I don't know, I guess it just never really...got any deeper than that, you know?"

"Not like how things are going with Ryuji?" Makoto teased.

"W-what?" Ann stammered. "There's nothing going on between him and me!"

Sumire pursed her lips in thought. "She does have a point. You've been friends since middle school, you both were put through hell by Kamoshida and have been with the Phantom Thieves since the very beginning, and I definitely wasn't hearing things when he started calling you 'gorgeous' this year and you basically just let him-"

"That doesn't prove anything!"

Makoto laughed. "I'll leave you two to it. I've got to get going." She left the Den through the secret entrance as Sumire continued to tease Ann and Ann started chasing her around the room, insisting that the redhead was imagining things and that there was definitely, absolutely, nothing going on between her and Ryuji.

Ren was lounging on one of the stools next to the counter of Leblanc. In one smooth motion, he raised his head and turned in Makoto's direction as she descended the stairs, slipping the glasses off his face and hanging them on the pocket of his dark jeans. Makoto's heart skipped a beat as she beheld her boyfriend, every bit radiating the image of the cool bad boy with his messy black hair, black blazer, white t-shirt, jeans, and sneakers. By contrast, Makoto was wearing a simple, short-sleeved black dress and leggings, handpicked by Ann of course.

Ren stood and moved to meet Makoto at the bottom of the stairs, his footsteps as soft as cats' paws. "May I have the honor, my queen?"

Makoto smiled and accepted his outstretched hand, a light pink dusting her cheeks. "As you wish, trickster."

The lunch that Boss provided was as delicious as always, and the pair were more than ready to work it off with a trip to the arcade in Akihabara. Once there however, the couple soon found their walk was interrupted by screaming, crashing, and...singing?

That's right, whatever was going on down that side street involved someone laughing loudly and mockingly, all while singing a strange tune in English:

Old fat spider sitting in a tree!

Old fat spider can't catch me!

Attercop! Attercop!

Won't you stop,

Stop your spinning and come catch me!

Old Tomnoddy, all big body!

Old Tomnoddy can't snatch me!

Attercop! Attercop!

Down you drop!

You'll never catch me up your tree!

There was another loud slam as the song concluded, and a familiar scrawny figure with a burning feather stuck in his right hand came sprinting out of the side street, cackling like a madman and being chased by an unfamiliar Shadow in the shape of a giant bowlegged spider frothing at the mouth with rage.

"Quasimodo, Agilao!" Kenzo Okuda cried out, skidding to a halt summoning the hunchbacked Persona to lob a fireball at the Shadow. The giant spider leapt into the air at Okuda to avoid the fireball, but Okuda had already vacated the space where it was going to land, leaving behind a molten pool of fire. The Shadow landed with a splash on the molten fire and screamed in agony, collapsing to the ground.

"Huh, guess fire's its weakness," Okuda remarked. "No wonder it was going through so much trouble to avoid my fire attacks."

"Okuda!" Ren called out, jogging up to the Hunter Class Persona-user.

Okuda turned in surprise to see him approach. "Oh, hey. Didn't think I'd see you so soon again. Don't distract me though, this bugger's annoying."

As if on cue, the spider Shadow struggled back to its feet and slammed its forelimbs against the ground with a scream. Okuda leapt back again as the ground around him erupted in spires of earth, trying to stab and ensnare him.

An Earth element? Ren thought. Never seen that before. Don't think I've ever seen a spider Shadow before either.

"Evil Smile!" Okuda ordered his Persona. Quasimodo leered menacingly at the Shadow, the effect of the Ailment Skill amplified by Quasimodo's deformed appearance. The spider stumbled and halted, giving Okuda time to summon another Fireball. "Agilao!" This time, the Shadow was enveloped in the flame, screamed one final time, and was consumed.

Quasimodo was absorbed back into the Vane of Order on Okuda's hand with a flash of blue fire, and Okuda immediately bent over, breathing hard. Ren and Makoto jogged up to him. "Need a hand?" Ren offered.

"Thanks," Okuda panted, allowing Ren to pull him back upright. "Man, I really need to train more."

"You shouldn't be using that Vane, Okuda," Ren reprimanded him. "It'll try to take over your mind."

"Then I'll fight it," Okuda spat. "If there's one thing I hate, it's brainwashing. Being forced to become something you're not is a fate worse than death in my book." The Vane on the back of his hand gleamed, and Okuda grimaced before snapping at it like it could understand him. "Shut your whisperings, feather! You're nothing more than a fragment of a dead god. You're just a stepping stone until I can unlock my real Persona. You have nothing to offer me, you disposable accessory!"

The feather flashed, seemingly in anger before settling down and smoldering frustratedly.

Okuda dropped his hand and looked back at Ren. "Sorry about that. It's been putting things in my head, especially when I'm about to go to sleep, and it's really getting on my nerves. I think it's beginning to get frustrated that I'm so stubborn about only using it to summon my Persona and refusing to let it do anything else."

Makoto cleared her throat. "We should head somewhere quieter."

Ren looked around. People were indeed returning to the street. "Good plan. Okuda, meet us in the arcade in a few."

"Got it," Okuda told them. "Guess I'll see if that Shadow dropped any items or anything."

Ren and Makoto didn't even get through a single round of Gun About before Shinya showed up. "I see you haven't dropped your game, Ren," the middle schooler commented. "Your lady friend is pretty good too."

"Hey, King," Ren greeted him without turning around. He headshot two enemies in two shots to finish the game and turned to greet the younger gamer. "I see you're still hanging around here. Any new challengers?"

"None as good as you," Shinya told him, punching the older teen in the arm. "I'd ask if you wanted to have another rematch, but you're clearly here on a date, so I'll hold off. For now."

"You been holding up alright since the Outbreak?" Makoto asked. She and Shinya had met before on some of her dates with Ren to the arcade.

Shinya nodded. "Yeah. That store you recommended in Shibuya was unreal. The owner's a bit scary, but he gave me a nice model pistol after I mentioned you recommended him. Wish I had a Persona though. Then I'd be able to do some real damage to those Shadows." He kicked at the ground.

"Don't hold your breath kid. Sometimes you really question if it's worth it," Okuda remarked, coming up to the three of them.

"Wha-?" Shinya sprang back, clearly not having heard him approach. "Who're you?"

"Kenzo Okuda, Hunter Class Persona-user," was his reply. When he laid a hand on his chest and gave a slight bow, Shinya noticed the golden feather imbedded flush with his skin into the back of his hand. Shinya decided he didn't want to know.

Okuda turned to Ren and Makoto. "That Shadow back there dropped some string and some of those black stones, plus a glowing card thing. I don't know why Shadows drop such random items, but I'm guessing you know what they're for, since you've been doing this longer than I have?"

Ren moved away from the games toward a quiet corner of the arcade, motioning for the rest to follow. "The string is string, plain and simple. The card is something called a skill card. Once they're painted, they can be used to apply a skill to one of a Wild Card's Personas. As for the stones, I don't have a clue."

Okuda frowned. "Funny. Pretty much all Greater Shadows drop them. I should think that they would at least be worth something."

"Show us," Makoto ordered. Okuda fished around in his pocket and pulled out a trio of small black stones. The smallest one was the size of a pebble, barely a centimeter in diameter. The second was a little larger, but still hardly much bigger than a marble, while the third was the size of a jumbo marble and appeared to sit heavy in his hand.

Ren picked up the largest one and looked at it closely. It seemed to both reflect and absorb light with the way its surface flashed in the dim light of the arcade. Raoul stirred within him as he held the material. Ren clenched his fist around it. "Eigaon."

The gaps between his fingers flashed with violet and red light. Ren opened his hand. The stone had transformed. Now, its surface appeared translucent, and a dark violet, almost black glow emanated from its heart, giving the stone an otherworldly appearance.

"Whoa," Shinya said, awestruck. "They're for enchanting?"

"Evidently so," Okuda remarked. "I guess it was worth it, gathering all that stuff."

"Gathering it?" Makoto questioned. "How much of this material have you found?"

"Oh, uh…" he scratched his head. "Hard to say. I started keeping it in a cup in my room until I got too much, then I started using a bucket. My mom was probably going to start getting mad at me for 'cluttering up the house' if I gathered too much, so I'm glad you've finally found a use for the stuff."

"How did we not notice these before…?" Ren murmured, his fingers still turning over the stone's smooth surface.

Okuda shrugged. "I guess some odd black rocks aren't that attention-grabbing when you just got done killing an otherworldly monster. Speaking of which, have any of you met a Shadow with an Earth element before?"

"No, we haven't," Makoto answered. "We've never seen any Shadows shaped like spiders before either."

"Funny," Okuda remarked. "You'd think they'd be more common considering fear of spiders is one of the most prominent mental afflictions in the world."

"You got me there," Ren told him, pocketing the stone he'd enchanted.

"Well anyway," Okuda started, "I'll leave the two of you to your date, and head home and see what I can do with this Spellstone stuff. Don't worry, I'll do everything in my power to avoid getting turned evil by the feather in my hand. And we'll all keep an eye out for any Shadows that display new elements other than the ones we already know about. Deal?"

"Going to go sing to some more Shadows?" Ren jabbed.

Okuda laughed. "I've been wanting to taunt a giant spider with that song for ages. It's based off of one J.R.R. Tolkien wrote for The Hobbit. Turns out you don't need a spell to make a Shadow mad."

"By the way," Makoto ventured, "what on Earth is an Atter-cop-pu?"

"I have no idea!" Okuda waved to them and left the arcade.

The movie that Ren and Makoto had decided on was a dinosaur movie. Specifically one of those movies where scientists managed to reconstruct dinosaurs' DNA and brought them into the modern world. Predictably, things ended badly when the people making the dinosaurs tried to do things like hybridize or weaponize them.

But what set this movie apart from the others was the relationship one of the park rangers had with the raptor dinosaurs, both the smaller, turkey-sized Velociraptors and the two man-high Achillobator that the scientists had reconstructed. When government agents had tried to use the Achillobator to hunt down an escaped raptor/Tarbosaurus hybrid and the raptors turned against them, the park ranger had gone out on a limb with the Velociraptors to convince the Achillobator to stop the hybrid. It was all a little far-fetched, but it was still entertaining to watch.

"Do you think dinosaurs were really smart enough to bond with humans?" Ren asked Makoto as they headed to the restaurant Sojiro had told them about.

"You never know," Makoto replied thoughtfully. "The raptors especially are well-known for having been intelligent pack-hunters, but they were reportedly only as smart as modern rabbits. I don't think that level of intelligence is enough for them to bond with humans, but again, you never know."

Ren held the door open for Makoto as they entered the restaurant. He could easily tell why Boss had recommended it. It wasn't large, and not many people were also eating there, but the decor was subtle yet classy and the entire building was filled with delicious smells. Ren and Makoto sat down together at one of the smaller booths and picked up their menus. They had a fair variety of dishes, and while nothing could possibly beat Boss' curry, it was still nice to have a break from eating it all the time.

"Hello!" came the bright and cheery voice of a waitress approaching them. "May I take y- Makoto-san!?"

Makoto's head snapped around as she looked at the girl. "Eiko-chan? What are you doing here!?"

Sure enough, their waiter was none other than Eiko Takao, a girl in the same year as Makoto whom the pair had managed to keep from falling under the thumb of a club host who preyed on vulnerable young girls.

"I'm doing my job is what I'm doing," Eiko answered snarkily. "I just didn't expect you to drop in with your…" she choked on her last word as she looked at Ren, lounging casually on his seat.

Ren gave her a sidelong glance and raised an eyebrow. "Something the matter?"

Makoto sighed as Eiko didn't stop staring. "I think you broke her, Ren." She snapped her fingers under Eiko's nose to snap her out of her daze. "He's my boyfriend. You can't have him."

Eiko was stammering nonsense. "Wha-how-you-! Makoto, he's gorgeous! How on Earth did you land a guy like him!?"

Both of them burst out laughing. "I'll tell you later," Makoto told her. "For now, could you take our orders, please?"

Eiko obediently took their orders and retreated back to the kitchens, muttering under her breath. Ren turned to Makoto with a grin. "Do you think she didn't recognize me without my glasses?"

Makoto huffed a sigh. "For all we know, it's possible. I was the one talking to her most of the time before, and it has been two years."

Ren nodded along. "Think she's found a boyfriend since then who isn't a creep?"

"Probably had a few, if we're being honest," Makoto replied. "But she also seems to be doing fairly well for herself. She's got a respectable job, even if she isn't going to college, though I don't know that for sure." Something sparked in Makoto's mind and she changed the subject. "Speaking of which, Sumire told me this morning about how she apparently confessed to you during the Maruki incident…?"

Ren tilted his head a little. "I'd almost forgotten about that. To be honest, I probably would have reciprocated her feelings if I wasn't already with you."

"Though I will ask, why is today the first I've heard of that?"

Ren shrugged. "I suppose it just never seemed that important. I hated to shoot her down, but thankfully I managed to avoid damaging our friendship in the process. Then once it was over, it seemed unimportant. Neither of us were going to try anything again, so why bother bringing it up?"

"Fair point," Makoto relented. Her expression turned slightly mischievous. "What's your take on Ann and Ryuji though…?"

Ren snorted. "I'm not sure about Ann, but Ryuji's totally into her. They always gravitate towards each other's patrol zones on missions, he's started calling her 'gorgeous' for some reason, and the other day, I totally caught him just staring at her back for no reason, but he honestly tried to insist he just spaced out." Ren shook his head.

"Well, Ann I'm pretty sure definitely also has feelings for him, but she's still in denial whenever anyone else tries to broach the topic," Makoto relayed. "And given what you just told me about Ryuji, it makes me wish they would just get together already and stop dancing around it."

Ren looked at her with wide eyes. "What's that I hear? Is Makoto actually gossiping about wanting two people to get into a relationship?"

Makoto gave him an exasperated glare. "Oh, shut up! It's your fault for getting me interested in relationships. Besides, they're our friends, and they're clearly attracted to each other, so why wouldn't I want to be supportive of them?"

Ren chuckled a little under his breath. "Regardless, do you think they would mind if we tried to hurry things along?"

"What do you want to do? Leave them in a room together alone and see how they react?"

Ren shrugged. "Seems like a good enough plan."

Makoto gawked at him. "I was joking."

"So?"

Makoto laid her forehead in her hands. "Agh, I give up."

They waited silently for another minute or two until Eiko came back with their food. Eiko almost froze again when Ren looked at her to thank her for the meal. "Um…" Eiko stammered. "Have we...m-met...before?"

Ren raised an eyebrow. "What? Do you not recognize me without my glasses?" His hand dipped down into his pocket, pulled out his round spectacles, and slipped them on. Eiko gave a start as Ren flashed her a cheeky grin. Now she recognized him.

"You're that transfer student!?" Eiko yelped. "The one who...who-!"

"I was framed, remember?" Ren reminded her. "I'm pretty sure that was cleared up in the month before I went home."

"Sorry," Eiko apologized, "I just need a little time to wrap my head around this." She shot Makoto a look. "Makoto, you have got to tell me how you landed a stud like him. You still have my number, right?"

"Sure," Makoto laughed. "Call anytime."

"Hey, Mako," Ren started, "remember that time I said people would probably be jealous of me if they saw you with me? Well, it seems-"

"Ren, I swear, do not finish that sentence."

Ren laughed. Eiko flushed. Makoto laid her fingers on her brow and sighed. "Dork."

Yu and Rise stared into each other's eyes, oblivious to all the envious stares surrounding them, from both genders.

"You sure you want to do this now?" Yu asked. "We'd have plenty of privacy if we went back to our apartment."

"Pfft," Rise brushed off his concerns. "Pretty much everyone who knows us knows we're Persona-users anyway. Besides, the whole point of doing this is we're removing our masks. Showing the world who we really are, and being proud of it. Though I wish more of the people who come to this shrine were here to pray or leave donations, not gawk at me."

"Fair point," Yu noted.

"Although…" Rise's expression fell, "are we sure we even can do this? I mean, it's never been done before, and-"

"Stop." Rise looked up at her serious-faced beloved. "Rise, we can't hide if we're going to do this. Besides, after all the time we've been together, have you hidden anything from me?"

Rise blinked. "That would be pretty pointless, since you saw all my worst parts when we faced my Shadow."

"Exactly. And in the time we've been together, have I ever hidden anything from you?"

"You're honest to a fault and we both know it," the idol retorted.

Yu didn't bother biting back his bark of laughter. "Exactly. I've got nothing to hide. Not the flirting, not the crossdressing, not even that one time we defeated Shadows by dancing, which I still have a hard time understanding."

"Alright, mister nothing-to-hide, let's do this already!" Rise exclaimed before throwing her arms around him and pulling him in for a passionate kiss. Every muscle in Yu's body instantly relaxed into the kiss even as a hundred envious gazes intensified tenfold. Neither of them cared. Deep within the lovers' souls, Kouzeon and Izanagi's lights burned brighter. Their lips parted.

"I love you, Rise. And I always will."

"Yu...I've loved you ever since you saved me from myself. And I will never stop."

A masculine voice resonated in the lovers' heads. "Are you prepared to renew our contracts?"

Both of them whispered their answers. "Yes."

A feminine voice this time, "Then vow to us now, your other selves."

"If you truly seek this union of self and Shadow, remember thine bonds and hold them fast."

"The darkness is cruel to those who stand against it, and only those who fight with everything they are shall emerge victorious."

A blue light manifested over Yu's and Rise's hearts. "Twice we saw the world on the brink of ruin," Yu spoke.

"Now it's happening again," Rise continued.

"No more."

"The vow of these Seekers of the Truth has been accepted."

"The contract shall be renewed."

"I am thou, thou art I."

"The truth thou hast sought for all this time hast been revealed."

"Thine will to rebel against this world, made manifest."

"The World seals the contract, and the sun shines through the fog. Remove thine masks, display all that thou art to the world, and awaken thine true power!"

Two flashes of blue fire as the masks appeared on their faces. Yu's was of silver-steel, with an outcropping V-shaped brow, reminiscent of Izanagi's faceplate, though the lower half of his face was still uncovered. Rise's mask was a simple white visor with sleek silver lines and tiny silver runes etched around the border of the glass. The lovers nodded to each other before wrapping their hands around their masks and beginning to pull.

The headache was severe, but not debilitating for them. They had already seen and accepted their basest, most selfish desires. Now, all they were doing was setting them free. Sure, Yu was a notorious flirt, but his love would only ever be given to his beloved. And yes, Rise's fame meant a lot of rules she had to follow, but she was still more than capable of being herself despite it all. Two red flowers erupted as the masks were finally tugged free. By now, everyone in the shrine had their eyes on the two of them, but a moment later, they were averted as the idol and the Wild Card were both consumed by azure flame.