"Very well," the long-nosed man relented. "If you are not yet prepared, we will grant you a little more time to consider the offer. But heed my warning, young Wild Card: you would do well not to squander your potential. After all, one like you has the possibility of a very interesting future."

The long-nosed man chuckled, holding up a tarot card of the Fool Arcana. "I will visit you again when you have reached a decision. Until then, farewell."

Sho woke up with a headache. Fairly unsurprising considering the last thing he remembered was taking a direct hit from an Almighty attack on par with Megidolaon. Now he was lying on a bed in an undecorated room with white walls and gray carpet. The only things in the room besides the bed were a small dresser and a TV on the wall across from the bed.

There were no windows, and there was no door.

"Oh, good, you woke up before I had to leave," a voice resonated in his head.

Sho jumped and scrambled off the bed, his hands searching for weapons that weren't there. "Who are you!?" he demanded. "Come out so I can kill you!"

"That's not very nice," the voice told him. Then his attention was captured by the TV turning on, bearing the image of an orange-haired girl in a pair of massive nightvision goggles, sitting in a room filled with screens. "Hello, Sho Minazuki. My name is Oracle, navigator and hacker of the Phantom Thieves of Hearts. Last night, you attacked one of our members and then picked a fight with our leader, who graciously brought you to our Den so you could be kept an eye on while we wait for some friends of ours to decide what to do with you. Until then, you can make yourself comfortable."

"This ain't funny, you little cockroach!" Sho was almost screaming. "Let me out so I can kill you!"

"And that attitude right there is why we're not letting you out just yet," Oracle said mildly. "That room will have no exit until we're absolutely certain that you won't immediately run away and hurt someone who doesn't deserve it. Although, I should probably give you something, hold on…" On the TV, Oracle did some typing on the keyboard in front of her, her fingers moving almost faster than Sho could track as the lines in her suit gleamed. A couple minutes later, a door faded into existence on one of the walls. "There," came the hacker's voice again. "Now you have somewhere to get water and relieve yourself. And if you look into the bottom drawer of the dresser in that room, you will find a steaming plateful of delicious curry. Enjoy your stay!" The TV blinked off.

"What!? That's it!?" Sho yelled. "What about my swords!? Who're these friends you were talking about!?" There was no answer. Begrudgingly, Sho opened the door, finding a fairly nice bathroom on the other side. There was even a shower. Sho shrugged before walking in entirely and shutting the door behind him. It had been far too long since he'd had a hot shower.

"I didn't know you could do that with Vanes of Order," Ren told Futaba after she cut off the connection.

"Hehehe! Elementary, my dear older brother!" Futaba gloated. "Mona's actually managed to gather quite a few Vanes since Akane's Awakening, to the point where I'm pretty sure that we've stripped Shibuya clean, and that's where you shot Yaldy. Turns out, we can use their reality-warping for all sorts of things, including tricking brains into thinking things do or don't exist when that's not the case, which is what I did for that door in Sho's room. The only drawback is that they're not very powerful on their own, and you need a lot of them in order to do anything super gamebreaking with them."

"Good work, Bug," Ren complimented her, patting the little hacker on the head.

"Hey!" Futaba protested. "None of that! I am at a high enough level that I don't need headpats to recharge me anymore."

Ren just looked at her for a few seconds. Then Futaba felt his hand land softly on top of her head again.

"Joker!" she protested, batting his arm away.

Ren laughed. "I couldn't resist." He turned back to the monitor. "Still, what if he tries to use the TV in there to escape? Didn't the Investigation Team use TVs to travel to the Metaverse?"

"I already thought of that," Futaba answered with another mischievous grin. "Let's just say he's going to get a bit of a surprise if he tries to enter the TV."

Ann Takamaki's hair was an absolute mess when she woke up, as always. She reluctantly raised her head and rolled out of bed, shaking some stray golden locks out of her face and running her fingers through her hair, trying to undo the worst of the snarls.

This was generally how Ann handled most things in her life. Her room was a mess of posters and clothes and old school assignments, but she didn't really mind living in it because no matter how messy her room got, the things that really mattered, like her schoolbag and Thief accessories, she always put in very specific places where she could always find them. And if her room was a mess in the meantime? She dealt with it when it became a problem.

Ann picked up a magazine on her bedside table. She and Mika were back to back on the front cover, and the difference between them was as sun and moon. Ann had no trouble admitting that Mika was beautiful, her long black hair and seductive features providing a dark allure for anyone who gazed at her a second too long. In contrast, Ann's posture and bearing were all sunshine, completely open and withholding none of her true nature, which was all heart and no hiding, but anyone who looked a little closer could see a hint of danger in her eyes, the slightest glimpse that the rose might have thorns.

So why had she kept this particular magazine, even though it was almost a year old by now? Probably the nostalgia for the old days and the pride she had in her work. Definitely not because Ryuji had said she was by far the prettier girl when he'd seen it.

Ann's traitorous thoughts continued as she made her way to the bathroom so she could do her hair and get dressed before she ate breakfast. Why Ryuji all of a sudden? He was like the annoying little brother she never had, despite him actually being four months older. He was loud, obnoxious, vulgar, couldn't take a hint, and dumb as a rock. So why did she suddenly find him so endearing?

It wasn't because she thought his monkey face and silly bleached hair were cute. That definitely wasn't it. It also definitely wasn't because he called her "gorgeous" in a way that made her feel both wanted and respected. And it definitely wasn't because he cared so much for his friends and family that he was liable to explode whenever they were endangered. No, she was definitely not crushing on Ryuji like she'd crushed on Ren after Shiho had moved.

She'd just finished fixing one of her bushy twintails when she finished that thought. Tongues of fire immediately started licking through her hair.

Ann barely suppressed a squeak and grabbed the offending strands, snuffing out the flames quick. Célestine may have made her completely impervious to flames, but she still didn't want to set off the fire alarm again, even if her parents had already left.

Ann cast her mind back to last night as she wandered into the kitchen to make breakfast.

"Stop doing that, Skull!" Panther scolded him while simultaneously hitting him with a Diarama. "You can't just throw yourself in the way like that, particularly because the Shadows have been getting stronger lately and especially since wind is your weakness!"

"Can't help it, can I?" Skull half-groaned. "I'm bulkier than you, which means I'm better at tanking hits, even if that was my weakness. 'Sides, I'd rather I got hurt than you."

"You dummy! I can't stand to see you get hurt any more than you want to see me hurt! So get that through your thick skull!"

Panther had yanked her fellow Phantom Thief to his feet by his ascot as she said those last words, and now their faces were mere centimeters apart. Skull held up his hands in surrender.

"Alright, fine, Panther. I promise not to throw myself in the way of any more wind attacks. We good?"

Panther blinked, her anger rapidly fading. She dropped her partner's ascot. "Y-yeah, I guess so."

Their faces were still only a few centimeters apart.

Then a Shadow had interrupted the moment. And Panther later very clearly remembered being so mad at it that she hadn't given a damn that it was fire-resistant. She'd roasted it alive anyway.

Ann groaned and laid her head in her hands. Okay, yes, fine, she was crushing on Ryuji. She was crushing hard. The problem now was what to do about it.

School today was interesting. No sooner had the bell rung than Chouno-sensei brought in a very Chinese-looking new student to introduce to everyone. Long black hair tied back in a high ponytail, dark eyes, perpetual smile.

"My name is Shen Kurata-Yang," the new guy said brightly to the rest of the class. "I am half Chinese and lived half my life in Australia, but I hope we can all get along."

The whispers started almost immediately.

"He's Chinese and Australian? Weird combination."

"Forget that, he's totally the perfect mix of cute and hot!"

"Man, first we get a Persona-user in our class, then a new pretty boy transfer?"

"I'm never going to get a girlfriend. Why does everyone else get all the luck?"

I bit back a laugh at hearing the last statement. The boy in front of me wouldn't have considered me lucky if he knew how painful it was to get a Vane of Order jammed straight through my hand, regardless of the badass scars I was left with.

Shen was sat at an open desk in the corner, but despite him being behind most of the class, it was still painfully obvious how much of the class' attention remained on him for the rest of the morning. Ushimaru-sensei liberally threw chalk at anyone he caught staring during his period though, so that managed to get most of the attention back on the lessons, but as soon as he left the room, it centered back on Shen like a magnet.

Of course, something had to happen eventually. So it was that as soon as lunch rolled around and Shen left his seat, he found himself immediately found himself surrounded by the class' gang of popular girls. No doubt each of them wanted to leave some sort of impression so that he would be willing to date one of them later, but as it was, the poor guy looked rather off-balance and overwhelmed by the sudden attention. So I decided to do what any Wild Card would do.

Moving slowly and fluidly, I left my seat, grabbed my bento box and schoolbag, and silently padded over until I was directly behind Shen. Then, fast as a diving falcon, I seized the back of Shen's collar and yanked him out of the knot of girls. His eyes met mine as he regained his balance.

"Run," I told him. And then we both made a mad dash for the door.

Neither of us stopped running until we reached the courtyard. By that point, we were both breathing hard not just from running, but also from laughing.

"Xiào sǐ wǒle! I suppose that is one way to make an impression," Shen said, still laughing. He straightened up and offered me his hand. "Shen Yang, pleased to meet you."

I graciously accepted the handshake. "Kenzo Okuda, likewise." I motioned to the door we'd just come through. "The student store is right through there if you need to buy some lunch."

"No, that is not necessary," Shen replied. "I brought a bento. That's what it's called, right?"

"Yes, that's what it's called," I told him. I brought him over to a secluded bench where we could both eat.

"Forgive me for asking, but why did you do that?" Shen asked. "I am not complaining, but it was not exactly…"

"Subtle? Normal?" I offered. "I don't really care what you call it. It worked is what it did. Besides, I was feeling a little mischievous, and I recently learned a rather painful lesson about being who I am regardless of what anyone else thinks."

Shen shook his head and muttered in English into his meal, "Geez, this fellow is insane."

"Why thank you," I replied in the same tongue. "I take that as a compliment."

Shen whirled to stare at me. "You speak English!?"

I gave an amused snort. "Aside from the fact that one of our classes is literally learning the English language, you're not the only one here who grew up overseas. Although," and here I began to imitate his Australian accent, "I can't help but wonder what sort of differences your Australian English has compared to my West Coast American English."

Shen laughed even harder now. "How do you even do that!? Is this just going to be a thing? Every ten minutes you pull out some odd new ability to catch me completely off guard?"

"Probably," I said smugly, still imitating his Australian accent.

Shen laid one hand on his forehead. "Dear God, what have I gotten myself into? Would it have been better if I had just stayed behind to be eaten alive by those girls?"

"I don't know," I promptly replied. "Would it have been better if you had stayed behind to be eaten alive by those girls?"

Shen blew a raspberry. "Compared to being mercilessly mocked by you? Yeah, I think I'm gonna leave."

"Don't leave! You're the only person I have to talk to!"

Shen laughed. We both knew he'd been joking. I switched back to Japanese. "So what's Australia like compared to the US?"

"I don't know," Shen answered. "I've never been to the US. What's it like there?"

So we traded life stories until the bell rang.

Moving to Tokyo from a tiny middle-of-nowhere town was a bit of a shock for Shen Yang. Granted, considering the Shadow Ourbreak, he could understand his parents' decision to do so, but it was still hard to start over in a new city and a new school. He was glad that Shujin had enough openings that they could let him in in the middle of the year, but he hadn't expect anything amazing out of his new school life.

Then he'd met Kenzo Okuda. And he could safely say he'd never met a more unpredictable person in his life.

Of course, when the last bell rang he was immediately surrounded by girls again, but this time he managed to speak up before he was entirely overwhelmed. "Now, ladies. Okuda-san might kidnap me again if you all get too close," he joked.

"You know he's cool because even Okuda-san want's a piece of him," one of the girls giggled.

Shen gave a small laugh. "He is certainly a very interesting character."

"You don't even know the half of it," another girl told him.

"I get that impression," Shen replied. "First he kidnaps me for lunch, then he reveals he can speak perfect English and starts imitating my accent. What else is he hiding?"

"He didn't mention his Persona?" the first girl asked.

Shen blinked. "Wait, what?"

"You mean he didn't talk about his Persona?" a third girl wilted slightly. "Boo, that would have been real interesting."

"For real," a fourth girl cut in.

"Wait, wait," Shen protested, "Okuda-san has a Persona?"

"Well yeah," the second girl told him matter-of-factly. "It's been all over social media for the last few days. He fought his Shadow in public with backup from the Risette and her boyfriend. It was the most awesome fight I've ever seen, except for maybe when the Phantom Thieves appeared to fight the first Outbreak."

"How did you not know about it?" the first girl asked.

Shen numbly pulled out his phone and thumbed over to the still-active webpage with the viral video on it. "I saw the video," he admitted. "I just didn't realize that was him."

"Still, you actually got to talk to him," the third girl whined. "No fair."

"Why haven't you?" Shen asked. "He seems like a nice enough guy."

The girl put her fists to her temples out of frustration. "Gah, you don't just walk up to that guy and say 'Hey, I know we've never talked, but I think it's really cool that you fight monsters with magic powers! You want to go out with me?'"

Shen blinked. "Why not? I met some nice people that way."

The girl sighed. "I don't know, it's just...before the Outbreak he was so inconspicuous you'd swear he stopped existing. Then one day he comes to school with a massive scar on his hand and a video going around on social media showing him beating down his Shadow like it's nothing?"

"It throws you off," the first girl concurred. "No one really knows what to think of him anymore. Still, he's always been fine as long as he's left alone, so we just...let him be."

"I get the impression that he likes throwing people off-guard," Shen deadpanned. "He thinks it's funny to destroy people's preconceptions or something. Anyway, I'd better get going or I'll miss the train to Suginami."

"We can accompany you to the station if you like, Shen-kun," the first girl offered.

"I don't mind," Shen beamed. "Mind telling me your names first though, ladies?"

I looked up at the sign. Kojima Blacksmithing. This was the place that Iwai had recommended.

I took a deep breath and opened the door into the shop. It was filled with the smell of hot iron, and the sound of a pounding hammer reverberated from the back a few times before coming to a halt. Racks of various pieces of ironworks decorated the shelves, everything from artistic pieces to tools to a few knives, though beyond those I didn't see any more weapons.

"Welcome," came a gruff voice from the counter. The shopowner stood in the doorway behind the counter, wearing a leather apron and his hair tied back in a topknot. His arms were muscular and powerful and his gaze was hard and calculating. "You looking for anything in particular, kid?"

"Not really," I said casually. "I was recommended this place by one Munehisa Iwai, thought I'd check it out."

The shopowner grunted. "Old geezer. I'm shocked one of his old yakuza buddies hasn't offed him already. Well, if you know Iwai, that means you're probably looking for weapons, right?"

"I was, but you don't seem to make very many," I noted, running a finger down the spine of a display knife.

"No, I don't," the shopowner told me. "All you kids ever think about when it comes to blacksmithing is swords."

"I'm not looking for a sword," I told him. "Too inconvenient to carry around everywhere if I need to be ready to fight Shadows at the drop of a hat. I'd prefer claws."

"Yeah, like that's so much better," the shopowner rolled his eyes.

Now I was starting to get slightly irritated. "Hey, I need some kind of weapon if I'm going to be fighting Shadows on a regular basis," I said bluntly. "I can't be relying on my Personae for everything. And if you don't want to make weapons for me, then teach me how to work iron and I'll make the stuff myself."

The shopowner blinked, then laughed. "Kid, you don't know what you're talking about," he told me. "It takes years to learn how to smith properly, and blades are some of the last things you learn how to make. I'm not gonna waste my time teaching you if blades are the only thing you want to learn how to make."

"Good, because they're not," I objected. "Weapons are hardly the only things I'm thinking of learning to make."

"Well, too bad for you, kid, because I'm not taking an apprentice right now. Get lost."

I was about to protest, but something flickered in the corner of my vision. A Shadow was slinking into an alley around the side of the shop. "I'll be back in a minute," I told him, then I left the building.

The Greater Shadow was a purple demon girl wielding dual katana. It didn't seem too strong, so perhaps if I managed to attack fast enough, I could kill it before it could retaliate.

"Deinonychus."

The ancient raptor shot forward before the Shadow even knew what was happening. My Persona pounced on the demon's back, sinking in its claws as the fangs searched for its jugular. There was a tearing sound and the Shadow dissolved.

Only the Shadow's swords didn't entirely dissolve. The metal warped and twisted until they were nothing but common scrap. Still, they might be useful. I grabbed the drops, marched back into the shop, and dumped the scrapmetal on the counter.

The smith raised an eyebrow. "If you think bringing me scrap metal is going to change my mind kid-"

"This isn't a game!" I burst out. "If you think I want weapons just because I'm screwing around, then you've got another thing coming! I'm a Persona-user, and that means that for as long as Shadows are roaming the streets, I have a duty to fight them. And to do that effectively, I need weapons! So here's what I'm proposing. You make what I need and teach me to forge, and I don't care how long either of those take, and I'll provide whatever else you need, whether that's materials I can get from killing Shadows, fetching things you need, lending a helping hand around the shop, or even just standing outside and guarding the shop from Shadows, I don't care! I just need you to get me something I can fight with!"

For a moment, the shopkeeper looked dumbfounded at me. Then he sighed and scratched the back of his head. "If you're so desperate for weapons, why didn't you just go look for a different place when I refused you earlier?"

I shrugged. "You really seem like a quality blacksmith and I was recommended this place. Plus, I'm stubborn." I frowned. "Huh. That's odd. When did I switch to Hephaestus?"

"What?"

"Nothing, sorry. So what do you say?"

The blacksmith looked torn. "Come back at the end of the week. I'll have an answer for you then."

"I'll deal with just my fists in the meantime I guess," I muttered. Then I looked back up at him. "Sorry, I properly introduced myself. Kenzo Okuda, high school student. Nice to meet you."

The blacksmith grunted. "Tamotsu Kojima. Now git."

Both of us had a lot on our minds as I left the shop.

Sho was bored. He was really bored.

Spending all day in a small room with no exit did that to a person, especially when there wasn't anything on TV. He'd received some sandwiches for lunch that had just appeared in his room out of nowhere, but it had been hours since then. Sho really wanted to throw something.

So he threw the remote into the TV.

The screen rippled as the remote passed through the portal, and then it was still.

A lightbulb went off in Sho's head. The TV. He could use the TV to escape. It had been so long since he'd gone to the TV world, he'd almost forgotten about it.

Sho laughed to himself. "Fools. You can't contain me!" And he dove right in.

There was a familiar twist of space, and Sho landed on his feet before looking around at where he'd ended up. He was in a small room. Against the wall right in front of him was a mirror and a small table with a phone on top of it. To his right was a dresser. To his left, an old grandfather clock. A chandelier hung from the ceiling, and behind him was a swirling portal of black and red.

This was new.