Key:
Menma Narrating
Sae Narrating
"Shadows/Persona Talking."
"Humans Talkings."
'Humans thinking.'
"Telepathy/Radios."
I ended up spending time in the Metaverse alone to hone my skills, and to clear my head.
"Cerberus!" Roared Jack as he rolled backward, his Persona lunged forward using a vicious Maragi to burn away several bipedal flower Shadows, Mandrake.
Jack righted himself and slipped his knife away as he stretched out.
It probably wasn't the smartest thing to do, but he'd taken to training within Kamoshida's palace instead of using his afternoons for other activities for a few days, it felt good to just… let loose on something.
He looked down at his hands and clenched his fists, "There's only so much a punching bag can do for me... Makoto's busy with school stuff at moment anyway so it's not like anyone should notice."
Stretching out like a cat Jack strode towards the entrance hall, that's usually where shadows would congregate.
"They want to steal his desires… but I just-" Jack cut himself off as he lunged at another Knight Shadow, leaping onto its shoulders and ripping its mask off with his knife, as he flipped off it the shadow burst into two forms, two Bicorns, large black horses with two green horns and white manes.
"For King Kamoshida!" Bellowed the horses, Menma sidestepped one of their Lunges and leapt up onto the creature's back, kicking off it into a jump he slashed his knife right across the other Bicorn's neck, it wailed for a moment before bursting viscous liquid and disappearing.
"Persona!" Calling Cerberus the Guardian of Hades howled and stomped on the other horse, crushing it. With both shadows defeated the original, fake, body returned and spat out several Yen and any power it held was absorbed by Cerberus.
"Probably gonna make a trek to the treasure tomorrow, from the texts I got the others are using today to get some firearms, and Ann is with Shiho… What do I want out of this?" Jack pulled off his mask and he sat with legs dangling over the guardrail of the grandiose staircase leading up to a painting of Kamoshida as a golden armoured knight.
"I suppose that's the ultimate question, isn't it?" Menma looked up to see a doppelganger of himself, though this doppelganger had white armour and wore a white shawl. Instead of purple his eyes were yellow.
"Yeah… it really is." The Copy seemed to give a half-smirk at that and nodded, "So what's your deal? You Kamoshida's cog-no you couldn't be, he doesn't know I'm Jack." Copy nodded and grinned at him.
"Quick thinking, nice to see that stupid cat's words didn't get lost on ya." Praised the Copy, "No, I got nothin' to do with this place. I can appear whenever you're in the Metaverse I'd think."
"Good to know, but it doesn't answer my question." Menma prodded.
Copy frowned, "Gimmie a second, would'ya? I only came into existence a short time ago, you try defining that shit quickly!"
Menma's brow raised as a thought crossed his mind but before her could say it, "Right on the money, unlike the others you didn't have an awakening, you just got given your power by Philemon. I am your shadow, all the bad shit you got swimming around in your head? I'm it."
"Oh," Menma frowned, this was not the best case scenario.
"Oh indeed, brother mine." Shadow said with a chuckle, "Before you go thinkin' about it to hard though, I'm not here to fight you or anythin' like that. It'd be pointless, you've got a Persona, I don't… I think. Shadow rubbed his chin in thought for a moment before shrugging.
"So what do you want?" Menma questioned idly.
"Well I suppose I'd start with pussy." Shadow admitted easily, "I mean it's been what… three months and Makoto hasn't even thrown some petting our way?"
Oh, it was that kind of conversation.
"I'd also really like to just fuckin' off Kamoshida. There's not a lot of genuine evil in the world, but people like him should just be put into a fire." Shadow continued on, leaning into the support beam at the end of the guardrail.
"Love. Good sweet mother of all that is holy, there's nothing quite so addicting it hits like a freight train, whenever we're with her it makes my heart beat like a fucking stampede! I just wanna hold her close and never let her go! I wanna take her to beautiful places just to see her smile! I-I-I….!"
"Want nothing more than her happiness." Menma said quietly, with an oddly forlorn tone.
Shadow reflected this expression, "Knowing that one day it won't be me that makes her happy anymore just… evicerates me."
"I spent so long trying to get her… what if I don't know how to keep her?" Menma laughed dryly.
"Why does it hurt so much all of a sudden? It make me angry, it makes me just wanna… lash out! HOW DARE SHE HAVE THIS EFFECT ON ME!" The shadow slammed his fist onto the guardrail he was sitting on and huffed.
"...I love her. So much. I don't know what I'll do…"
"What if it's in college?! She might just shack up with some fucking loser! Some limp-dick fucking burn out who gets her drunk or something! God fucking dammit she's too perfect to pass up! I should know!" Continued Shadow, he slipped off the rail at this point and started pacing menacingly.
"Every time we trained in the gym I could barely keep my eyes off her, every inch of her body, every contour, the way her muscles tensed and moved as she did squats, why am I so fucking obsessed with her!?"
"Gods, can we talk about something else, this is starting to make me ache." Menma pleaded as he grabbed his forehead.
"You're right onto more important matters, pussy. God fucking damn it now I can't stop thinking about debaucherous shit, when we saw Shiho all messy with her hair out it was just-hhhggnnn!" Shadow bit his lower lip and hugged himself, Menma's eyes darkened slightly.
"Fuck dude I'd settle for the Okumura girl in class, you know the quiet ones are always fucking kinklords. Or that Takamaki girl… that fucking latex suit is criminal, which I suppose fits all things considered. But most of all I just wanna run up to Makoto -yes her again- pin her against a wall and just fucking lose it man!" There was an almost fanatical lust in Shadows eyes as he spoke, before he looked genuinely sad.
"I'm glad it's all about fucking now though… I don't want to go back to thinking about offing myself every other day. Trying to find the energy to get up in the morning."
"I've dealt with those issues, I'm glad they're gone as well." Menma admitted freely with a nod.
"What do you think they'd do if they found out you tried it once?" Shadow asked curiously.
Menma idly rubbed his neck at the thought. "They don't have a chance unless we tell someone." Menma pointed out quietly.
"Oh? So it's already 'we'? I thought you'd try to shut me up." Shadow looked quite pleased with himself.
"You're just saying what I've been thinking, I don't mind that in private." Menma assured with a small smile, "What about Sae?"
"OH MY GOD YES! She has got some fucking amazing legs, and that ass-I want her to sit on my face until I pass out, she could crush my head between those thighs and I'd die happy!" Shadow was positively giddy.
"What no honey across her stomach to lick off? She may not have the definition of Makoto given her job but you gotta expect lady-abs."
"I didn't even think of that yet! Holy fuck dude that's amazing!"
Are you seriously telling me all this right now?
Oh right… I'm in an interrogation chamber… S-sorry whatever they juiced me up with is fuckin' with my head.
Oh I'm sure. I've noticed your habit of staring at my ass, Uzumaki.
I've noticed you noticed, that's why I kept doing it. You're attractive, I'm attractive, personally I think we could make fine art, I know a guy.
Are you propositioning me!?
Only if your answer is yes, if not then it's-jesus what did they drug me with? I'm not usually this forward.
Especially with your girlfriends sister!
...We ended up pursuing the treasure the next day.
I won't go into detail of Kamoshida's castle because it really doesn't matter. There was a point where we had to get through some passage and in order to do it we arranged books and found a BDSM hole with pictures of Shiho, shit like that. It's not really important either way.
….Understandable, we've already burned through-
I don't want to know how many minutes I have left to live, Sae... please just left me forget about it.
Anyway, we cleared it all in a day, mostly at my insistence because I'm anal about getting it all done in one way, it was a fucking slog I'll say that much, we even had to fight the personification of Kamoshida's dick at one point, obviously it only attacked Ann.
Wait.. what?
Right? Dude is so far up his own ass that even his Dick has a shadow. Fedora-tipping Morgana kept trying to assure 'Lady Ann' that he'd keep her safe, that cat is fucking weird I'll say it now.
Moving on.
Right, so anyway… We secure our route to the treasure and send the calling card the next day, Skull demanded on putting it together, which was… I mean it was a fine first attempt but let's just say he's not artistically gifted.
"This calling card is a tragedy." Menma held one of the dozens of red card that were posted on every noticeboard in the school, he idly noticed Akira, Ann and Ryuji discussing something in the corner.
The Joker seemed to notice him and gave a slight nod in his direction, Menma returned it before his ears were filled with the sound of thunderous steps.
"Who did this!?..." Yes apparently the man hadn't even been suspended yet because the case was still being put together in order to bury him in one go, Shiho had tried to avoid all involvement beyond her initial statement, she'd even asked her parents to move her schools, understandably so given the situation.
"Gonna be a damned shame." Menma looked around for a moment before catching his reflection in one of the windows, Shadow Jack was there, "Hey pal, just droppin' in. All's quiet on this side for the moment but the King is losing his collective shit."
Menma wanted to question his Shadows appearance but didn't bother, instead he gave him a mute nod and watched him fade away, "Was this you Uzumaki! Haven't you done enough?!"
Menma chortled, "I wish I was this creative, unfortunately not. I arrived here a little late to pull something of this scale off."
That seemed to be enough for the man as he stalked towards the trio in the hallway, accusing them, Akira merely shrugged and gave some non-committal answer.
All four of them were given witness as the school around them suddenly shifted and King Kamoshida was there in the P.E teachers place, "Come and take it, if you can!":
Suffice to say, we were more than ready to do just that. Slipping through the Palace once more we made our way directly to the treasure, Joker had prepared something called a Goho-M. Which somehow teleported us back to the entrance of the Palace… Somehow.
You never asked? That doens't seem like you.
Oh I did. But he was just as confused as me, Mona just basically told him how to put it together, not how it actually functioned. Fucking cat.
"Anyone else find it strange that the doors are left wide open?" Jack asked as he walked with his hands on his hips behind the group.
"Gift-horse." Joker said quietly.
"Mhmm." Jack sounded off, more than a little hesitant.
"C'mon the treasure will be up here!" Mona insisted as they passed through a grand throne room, climbing up the stairs revealed a treasury, gold and gems littered within, honestly it looked pretty fucking dope.
"Ttrreeeaasssuuuuree!" Within floated a massive crown, sparkling with otherworldly radiance, it seemed to have flipped a switch in Mona as the cat immediately leapt at it and began purring and nuzzling it.
"M-Mona, be serious!" Panther snapped, stomping her heel on the carpeted ground.
"Dude what the hell happened to the cat?" Skull muttered in confusion.
"It's not catnip, Mona." Joker pointed out, amused.
"Mona!" Jack boomed, as he tore the cat off the treasure, holding him by the scruff of his weirdly shaped head, "Now isn't the time to dry-hump a crown!" Hissed the masked rogue with purpose, his purple eyes flickering yellow for the barest of moments.
"R-right!" Mona wriggled free of Jack's grasp and nodded to him, "Thanks for snapping me out of that, something about the treasure just… resonated with me." Mona brushed himself down before frowning up at the red clad rogue, "Did you have to be so rough?"
"I"m just a little tense given the situation." Jack admitted, pulling his mask up to reveal his mouth and taking a few deep breathes, "Sorry, Mona."
"Accepted, c'mon let's get this treasure outta here!"
"How? It's pretty damn big." Skull pointed out, Mona rolled his eyes.
"Carrying it obviously, everyone grab a side!"
What ended up happening was that each of the humans grabbed a side while Mona played defence. As they managed to get down the stairs Skull spoke up, "This thing is actually lighter than I thought… given how big it is."
Jack nodded, "I think the matter is that it's so grotesque and unwieldy."
"Ah, so back to prim and proper speech, eh?" Skull goaded with a grin, Jack scoffed beneath his mask.
"I'd hardly call myself prim." Denied the Red Rogue with a chortle.
"GO-GO let's go Kamo-Shida!" A cheery voice filled the air before a grunt followed, suddenly the crown flew out of their collective grasp as something struck it.
"S-Seriously, a volleyball?" Jack groaned out, a shadow moved above them and at Skulls gasp they all looked to see Shadow Kamoshida land before his throne.
He stood, smirked and held out his hand, suddenly the crown shrunk and flew into his awaiting grasp.
"Does this dude have the force or what?"
Your shadow appeared?
Yeeeup, right as the 'King' was about to start talking.
"Uh? Another one?" Kamoshida questioned with a raised brow, Cognitive Ann raced up to his side and hung off him.
Shadow Jack strode up and bumped shoulders with his normal self, "Howdy partner, looks like you decided to come and topple the king, eh?" There was an audible grin in his layered voice.
"T-Two Jacks?" Mona mumbled in confusion.
"What the hell's goin' on?" Skull demanded.
"Wait is this Jack's cognitive self in Kamoshida's Palace?" Panther questioned, looking at her teammates for answers.
"A cognitive version should be almost identical, this looks like someone went to great lengths to separate the two." Mona commented.
"What about… ya'know, Ann." Skull whispered, gesturing to the bikini clad girl. "She's different,"
"Ugh, don't remind me." Panther said with a scowl.
"Who cares about that? We came here to do a job." Jack and his shadow said as one, and moved as one, both strode towards Kamoshida in sync and unsheathed their knives, pointing them to the monarch and declaring.
"We're here to take your Heart!" The mirrors declared.
"Never! This proves that I am the king of this castle-It is the core of this world!" Kamoshida declared with vibrance, "I'll dispose of you all myself."
"Yeah-yeah whatever you sexually harassing D-bag, what were you waiting to ambush us?" Skull goaded.
"Pfft, ambush? No I just made it easier to find you all, as expected of you mediocre peasants!"
"Enough!" The mirrors ordered, "You have been found wanting, Kamoshida King of lust, demon of debauchery!"
"We're gonna fuckin' kill you, you sexist, rapist asshole! You cannot use the gorgeous gifts to the world that are women for your own needs!" Shadow said with ferocity.
"Nor will I stand idly by as you parade your false charm upon the fooled masses! You are scum of the highest calibre!"
"Wait-Kill?!" Akira demanded.
"Your desires! Are ours!"
"BWahahahah! Yes, fight me! You can be my would-be slayer, and I shall be the Demon King!" Kamoshida exploded into a shadowy mass, slowly but surely a new form emerged, a multi-armed red skinned beast with teeth fused to its lips in place of separating the two, a tongue easily as long as the beast itself.
In each arm was a different item, in his top right was a glass of wine, in his bottom right a golden knife, in his bottom left a golden fork and in his top right an instructor whip.
Surrounding the demon were several stout creatures with metal masks, similar to the ones the prisoners down below wore, they were chained to iron volleyballs.
Sitting before the demon was a golden trophy cup with multiple blue legs wriggling within, womens legs.
"Let it begin." Jack declared, his shadow shadow shot forward before bowing low, Jack raced after it and jumped onto his shadows back, Shadow shot up as Jack jumped into the air, "Cerberus, Come!"
The great gatekeeper of Hades appeared, one head took a great bite out of Kamoshida's chest, the other two ripping apart both right arms, doing severe damage, Jack landed with a knife slash across the face, the demon hissed and whacked him away with his training rod, Jack was sent towards his partners in crime.
"Arsene!" A pair of red arms wrapped around Jacks midsection as he was spun around and set down beside Joker, "Eiha!" Arsene shot forth a great pillar of Curse energy directly into the open wounds Cerberus left.
"Nice one!" Jack praised with a nod.
"You too!" Joker said, slapping his friends hand, Jack felt a surge of energy, "Cerberus, Agi!" The great beast appeaered behind him once more, this time with a maw of flame, each head shot a single basketball sized orb of flame at Kamoshida, the concussive force of each blow strong enough to create billowing smoke clouds.
"Skull!" Jack reached out, "Tag in!"
Skull grinned widely and shot forward, the Baton Pass powering him up, "Let's do this, Captain Kid! Lunge!" The pirate burst forth from the thug and steered his ship directly into Kamoshida's chest, "Panther!"
"Right." Panther leapt into the air and flipped in such a way that she and Skull held hands for a moment before she continued her spin and landed before him, "Carmen, Agi!" The smoking beauty appeared and stomped on her entranced men, both of the heart-shaped creatures shot flames from within.
"Mona, your up next!" With more excitement than was probably needed Mona leapt into Panther's arms as the power filled him he bounced out, no one missed how his tail brushed down the middle of her cleavage but that was hardly the time to bring it up.
"Zorro, finish this, Garu!" A great storm of green wind was shot out of the Spaniard's rapier, cutting deeply into an already wounded Kamoshida.
"Ughh! Damn it I need healing!" He dug his fork into his championship cut and fished out two sets of legs, a great wave of energy filled his body and all the wounds were gone from him. "You peasants have gotta try harder than that!"
"Son of a bitch…" Skull said, though his face seemed to be permanently set into a grin, "We gotta deal with that cup."
"Right, everyone aim for the champions cup." Akira ordered with a smirk, it seemed that everyone was getting all kinds of good out of the fight.
"Time to make good together, partner! USE ME!" Jack shot his hand forward, as his Shadow ran at him, Shadow gripped his forearm and threw off his mask, revealing an ash skinned version of himself, "I"m not gone… we got more to talk about."
With that promise, Menma felt something inside him break apart as his Shadow sept into his body, he was covered in black, viscous fluids, and screamed bloody murder.
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Golden fire seemingly melted the fluids away, Menma's armour was now a mixture of his own and his Shadows, his hood had spiraling streaks of blue clashing against the red, his armour followed the same trend but in place of his knife was two deadly looking pistols, each of them looked like they could punch through solid steel with no problem, one the left was a white weapon with Ivory carved onto it, and to his right was a black gun with Ebony etched onto the side.
A new creature appeared behind him, a lanky creature with four arms, in each arm was an archaic flintlock pistol. The lanky creatures arms were thin as sticks but each had long lengths of white cloth dripping off them like wings, the creature's head was a tricorn hat with a facemask pulled up, four golden eyes peered from within the shadow cast by the hat, across its torso was a bandoleer, in each loop was a vial of some kind of liquid. The legs of the creatures looked quite human, aside from their length it seemed quite normal. Long black riding boots reached up to the beings mid thigh and white trousers covered the flesh beneath.
"Try whatever you like you trash, I won't let you take my treasure!" Barked Kamoshida, his training whip slapped against the ground making the stout creatures at his sides snap to attention, several dozen volleyballs were all shot at Jack only for the Persona behind him to fire off just as many shots making them pop harmlessly.
"Ah! How dare you!" Hissed the demon.
"Shut your mouth and die already." Snarled Menma, looking up his purple eyes were now a deep saffron colour, he held up his firearms and fired off at the cup, "Swift, Frei!" The highwayman Persona shot into the air and created a nuclear orb that exploded against the cup.
"Get to it gang!" Ordered Akira, "Pixie, Zio!" A small fae creature appeared over Joker's shoulder and created a small storm of lightning that struck the precious item.
"Zorro, Garu!"
"Captain Kid, Lunge!"
"Carmen, Agi!"
The multi-element attacks struck true once more, as they all struck at once it created a mighty explosion that rocked the whole room, the championship cup exploded sending shards everywhere, Menma summoned Cerberus to shield his teammates, the beast grunted as metal fragments dug into its hide, making Menma hack up a mouthful of blood.
"Thank you, Jack." Akira said patting his shoulder, "Mona, can you heal him?" The cat nodded at the order and summoned Zoro to perform a Dia on his teammate.
Jack felt his wounds knit close and sighed, "Thanks for that, Cerberus is gonna bitch at me for that." He admitted with a chuckle.
"Dude you can use multiple persona like Joker?" Skull asked quckly, watching the reeling Kamoshida with one eye.
"Not like him no, I think my Shadow is just… my natural Persona, and Cerberus is the one Philemon gave me for being the Aeon?" Jack quickly explained off the top of his head, "Can we talk about it later?"
"Right, let's deal with this asshole." Panther grinned and snapped her whip.
"Everyone, Hold Up!" Joker ordered as they rushed forward, guns at the ready.
"You think you can get away with this? Do you have any idea who I am? I'm Kamoshida, the King!" Demanded the monarch as he barely managed to move properly.
"It'll keep me up all night." Joker said, words dripping with sarcasm.
"B-Bullshit, I'm above everything in this castle, if I'm not the King who is, huh?"
"Ugh, you act all high and mighty but this is just lame." Skull drawled with a frown.
"Totally, I can't believe we were even worried about this. You're a complete joke." Panther scoffed and flipped her hair.
"It just goes to show that the bigger they are, the harder they fall." Mona agreed with a nod, pulling his slingshot back.
"Let's waste this motherfucker." Jack said, his voice gaining an extra layer.
"All Out Attack!" Joker ordered, lunging forward.
The world became a blur of slashes and shots, Persona and Thief alike throwing their all into completely destroying this despicable man.
The all landed back a few feet as suddenly he exploded in a shower of blood and ichor, the 'Great King Kamoshida' reduced once more to his natural shadow state, he fell to the ground, covered in bruises and cuts.
Kamoshida attempted to rise only for a metal boot to meet his square jaw. "Don't try it, scum." Jack commanded, pressing both Ebony and Ivory into the man's skull, "We will be having words."
"It has always been like this, all those goddamn hyenas, forcing their expectations on me." Spat the Shadow with venom, "Everything I do, I do for them, what's wrong with wanting a fucking reward for that!"
"You got the balls to make excuses for what you did?" Skull questioned, as though unable to believe what he was hearing. He shook his head before his face was set into a grim snarl, "We'll do something about that distorted heart of yours."
"Oh yes we will~." Jack spoke with black promise in his voice.
Joker's eyes weren't even drifting to Kamoshida as he watched his senpai hold the man at gunpoint, something had occurred when the Shadow fused with him.
"Hhhhmmm." Whimpered Kamoshida as he tried to reach for his treasure only for Jack's boot to descend onto his wrist, a snapping noise audibly occurred making Joker and Mona wince.
"Scared? Right now that's exactly how Shiho felt, exactly how all the people you've abused always felt, all the people who had to tip-toe around 'Kamoshida-sensei' because no one knew who'd be on the chopping block next!" Ann spat with vicious bile lacing her words.
Carmen appeared behind Ann and pulled up her 'pets' creating two orbs of flame. Kamoshida immediately began to sweat.
"So what's your choice, are you going to try and worm your way out of this one, or would you rather die here?" Demanded the girl, her green/blue eyes filled with purpose.
Mona crossed his arms, "It's your call, time to make it."
Jack looked up, "Her call?" He demanded, snapping attention to him, "So she gets to decide if he lives or dies? No one else gets a piece of this decision? Just because you want to fuck her?"
Jack kicked the shadow forward so he was between himself and the other thieves, "Who died and made you leader, cat?"
"Whoa…" Skull muttered, not expecting this reaction.
"As aggressive as you're being right now, Jack. You make a point. This isn't just one person's choice." Joker pointed out, Panther reigned in Carmen and crossed her arms. "We all have to consider our position here, if we kill his Shadow, we can almost guarantee that the real Kamoshida will die. If we don't and just steal his treasures, he may have a change of heart, completely without consequence to us."
"Anyone else wanna take a swing at what Jack said though?" Skull pointed out, "'Cus it's been kinda bothering me how much attention Mona's been payin' panther in an almost creepy way."
"Ain't no almost about it, the cat wants to get some pussy. I can respect that, but play within your own species." Jack said, waving Ivory around whilst Ebony was firmly in place pointed at the King.
"W-Well I never!" Mona began, "That's incredibly rude, how could you say such things in front of a lady!"
"I'm not hearing any denial." Jack pointed out, Panther took a noticeable step towards Skull away from Mona.
"Look, Mona. It's not that I'm not flattered or anything, but it's never going to happen. So I'd appreciate if the advances stopped." Panther said, her arms crossing once more.
Mona began to splutter and plead his case only for a shot to ring out. Jack had fired off into the ceiling, "Awesome, one issue out of the way… can we get back on topic." Finally the Shadow retreated from Jack and stood next to him once more.
"Ugh, sorry about that partner was in there longer than I intended." Shadow Jack swayed and gripped his head, "I'll catcha soon, I gotta rest…" The Shadow faded away leaving only a single Jack.
"That's another conversation we've gotta have." Skull pointed out, getting a nod from Jack who sheathed Ivory on his hip.
"Look, ignoring what my Shadow said for the moment, I think it'd be best to just force him to confess, killing him only gratifies us. If he serves his time it means that dozens more people get closure from this whole thing." Jack said, putting his case forward.
"I was thinking the same, honestly. I just wanted to scare him." Panther smirked at the stricken expression on the Shadows face.
"Cool, so we're all for just taking the treasure?" Skull said, getting a round of nods.
Jack walked around Kamoshida to stand aside Panther, "So, got anything left to say for yourself?"
"I've… lost. You're through when you lose, what am I supposed to do now?" Kamoshida questioned, pitifully.
"Make amends for all that you did, that's all that's left. Maybe one day, in the future. You can start your life up once more." Akira said quietly, almost to comfort the beaten and battered shadow.
"Yeah… that, that sounds nice. I will return to my real self, and I'll make things better." Promised the Shadow as he faded away into sparkles of light.
"That's actually a nice ending to it all." Jack admitted quietly, sheathing Ebony on his hip, pulling his mask up and smiling at his team.
"Hey, just so you know we don't have time to waste, this place is about to collapse!"
This then led to us all legging it, apparently Joker forgot about the Goho-M in the rush and didn't want to test its validity at such a crucial moment. Skull had a trip at some point but between myself and his own bullheadedness we managed to get out fine.
"You have returned to the material world." The Meta-Nav reported, "Destination Deleted."
"It seems that means it really worked." Akira said, holding his phone with a little grin on his face.
"So what did the treasure end up being?" Ryuji questioned, Menma held up an olympic medal in his hands, "For real? I guess he really couldn't let go of those days."
"Makes sense though, right? Given how gung-ho he was about anything related to it in the palace, the random treasures were hidden in volleyballs for god's sake." Menma said with a wave of his hand.
"So what do we do with it?" Ann questioned.
"Pawn it off, simple really." Morgana said with a cheshire grin.
"I suppose it fits the thief motive even more if we fence our stolen goods for reward." Akira remarked with a smirk, pushing up his glasses as he said so.
"I can do it. I know some people." Menma said with a shrug, swinging the medal around by its cloth.
"Really, Senpai?" Ann questioned, crossing her arms, "What kind of 'people'?"
"Some old people that really like the idea of having false stories to tell." Menma smirked at her, "My dad's old teacher is a total lech, he'd buy anything like this to pick up women easier."
"R-really?" Ryuji snickered, "What the hell? How much do you think you could get for it?"
"From him? Pfft, a couple million yen at the least. Old dude thinks with his dick first and his wallet fourth."
"A-a-a-a million yen!" Ryuji had cash signs in his eyes as he drooled over the idea.
"Split four ways that's 250,000Y each. Pretty good, aye? Might be able to get your ma something sweet." Menma suggested.
"More than that dude!" Ryuji couldn't help the grin on his face, "Damn Senpai you're the best!"
Akira seemed to have zoned out, "250,000Y… my college fund will be safe."
"So much shopping…" Ann said dreamily, "Ooh! I could buy Shiho something.
"That would actually be a really good use for the money." Menma pointed out with a grin, "Thoughtful of you Ann, I'd say I'm impressed by empathy is what I expected from you."
The blond smiled sweetly, "Aww shucks, thanks Senpai."
"H-Hey what about me!" Morgana demanded, "Don't I get anything, I'm the one that helped you all get this far anyway!"
"Sushi doesn't cost 250,000Y Morgana." Menma admonished, sticking the medal into his school bag, "There's only so much a cat can do with that kind of money."
"I am not a-"
"Morgana." Menma cut him off with a piercing stare, "You live in Akira's bag, you live in Akira's house, as a pet, sure in the Metaverse you're helpful and a source of great information. We wouldn't get half as far as we have without you and that can't be taken away from you. But face facts, you lick your own balls, you cough up hairballs, you pur when you get chin scratches, you're a fuckin' cat."
A silence descended on the alleway for a moment, before Ryuji spoke up. "So uhh, should we go celebrate our first success?"
"We could go to a nice restaurant with the money we'll make." Ann suggested, "There's this really ritzy place uptown that costs like, 8,000Y to get into but from what I've heard it's totally worth it."
"That sounds like a good idea." Akira smiled and slipped his bag onto his shoulder, "Senpai do you have a timeframe of when you'll be able to get the money?"
"Give me a few days to get in contact with the old man. I'll let you all know ASAP. But in the meantime how about we all get dinner, on me?" Menma offered with a smile.
"Wow, really Senpai? You don't mind?" Ann questioned, owlishly blinking.
"Sure, it'd be nice to spend an evening with friends for a change... you don't mind if I invite my other half do ya?" He asked suddenly, rubbing his head, "I'd kinda like it if I could involve Makoto in more social activities."
"So I guess that means no Phantom talk." Ryuji sighed and ruffled his hair, "Pfft, yeah of course Senpai, if it's your treat you can bring your girlfriend along."
"I don't mind." Akira assured with a nod.
"Awesome! Ya'll know the diner in Shibuya? Wanna meet there or just go straight there 'cus… uh, after flipping about and fighting a demon I smell a bit." Each of the Phantoms took a moment to sniff themselves and in unison said.
"We'll meet you there."
So we went to dinner, and no I'm not skipping this story because I'll do what I want.
Menma we really-
Sae. Sweetheart, darling, apple of my eye. I'm telling the story.
[Niijima Residence Bathroom]
"So we're going to dinner with some friends of yours? Any reason for the occasion?" Makoto asked as her boyfriend did her eyeliner, for some reason he was much better at getting wings that she was. Which irked Makoto to no end.
"Well, we were hanging out earlier after school and I decided to invite them out, sort of a spur of the moment thing. Besides it's good to get out once in awhile, you can't spend all your time studying just because exams are on the horizon, love." Menma said distractedly as he applied the makeup.
"That's true but I still-"
Menma silenced her with a chaste kiss on her juicy pink lips, his purple eyes looking longingly into her reds, "Stop stressing, Koto." He whispered gently, "You're a brilliantly intelligent young woman, you'll do fine."
"You really think so?" She asked, leaing her head against his.
"Of course I do, Koto." He promised, using the pet name he would when only the two of them were present "I don't know what god I was blessed by, but when I say you've got nothing to worry about, I mean it. You gotta put more faith in yourself."
She looked down for a moment and Menma leant back, "What's wrong?"
Makoto was going to say nothing but her mouth betrayed her, "It's my sister, she's so tense from work recently that… she called me a burden, and a leach that 'eats away at her life'. I try to hard to live up to her expectations but every time I try to take even the smallest break she digs her heels in and flatly calls me an immature child for not thinking more about my future."
Makoto stared at her lap, Menma grabbed a stool and sat before his sun and stars, taking her hands into his, "Koto I want you to look at me." She did so, slowly, "No matter what Sae says, no matter what anyone says ever you are not a burden, okay? You are the hardest working person I it weren't for you dozens of students would have spun out or burnt out, but you, you've got the charisma and the stubbornness to pull people's heads outta their asses and set them straight, now I know it may not mean much but to me, you're the strongest person in the world. And I want you to know that. You're not useless, you're not a burden, you're the reason I get up in the morning. I love you Makoto Niijima and I'd do anything to see you smile. So for whatever that's worth, that's what I think."
Makoto stared at him for a moment, and it almost broke the moment to see her with one finished eye but her gaze suddenly got watery, making him panic, "Thank you." She whispered and pulled him close, burying her head into his shoulder, "I love you too."
His heart beat like a drum at the sound of those words, he felt his own eyes water at that and he gripped her tightly.
That's why I'm telling this story, not for the fucking interrogation, for you Sae. Because you need to hear the kind of fucking impact you have on your sister. If you ever speak to her like that again there's not a god in this universe that'll keep me from you.
I… admit I have said things In the past that I regret. I suppose I never actually apologised to Makoto for them. I'll make this right, but please you must get back on task with your story.
The Phantom Thieves +1 met up at a restaurant, 'Kaikaya by the Sea' in Shibuya a seafood restaurant that's typically casual but at night has higher expectations of certain patrons, especially those that are going to one of the more exclusive back rooms.
Menma wore a simple white button up shirt with a white singlet beneath, black slacks and dress shoes, a simple canvas belt around his waist with a spiral buckle. A pair of studs in his left ear and a single silver ring with a black gem in the centre on his right middle finger.
Makoto was done up in a long black dress with a slit down each side of her legs, the dress had a spiderweb design at the bottom, she wore black heels and wore a matching silver ring with black gem on her left middle finger.
The dress was a gift from Menma, initially Makoto was too embarrassed to wear it out but eventually Menma convinced her that she had the legs for it and got his wish.
They had to wait a few minutes for the others to show up.
[Ryuji: Sorry Senpai, the trains were a little later than we expected, we'll be there ASAP]
[Ann: Told you we should have left earlier.]
[Akira: I'm sure it's not the end of the world.]
[Menma: No stress guys, we've only been waiting a few minutes,]
"Are they almost here? I don't like some of the stares I'm getting." Makoto said, her cheeks flushed as she pressed her dress down.
"They're just admiring beauty, Koto." Menma whispered into her ear, grinning like a loon, "I can barely keep my eyes off you."
"Flattery will get you nowhere, mister." The brunette chided, but wrapped arn arm around one of his.
Menma leant down and kissed her cheek, "Flattery? Madam I merely tell you the truth."
Makoto smiled up at him, sweeter than sugar ever could be, "Thank you." Those pink lips, that dark eyeliner, that dress, a thick desire welled up in his gut the longer he looked at her.
"Yoo~ Senpai!" Menma suddenly snapped out of his debaucherous thoughts and saw Ryuji, Ann and Akira making their way over.
Akira wore a black jacket over a dark grey dress shirt with white buttons, his pants were a similar dark grey colour and his shoes were black.
Ryuji wore a dark blue dress shirt, with the sleeves rolled up and the buttons undone, it matched well with the white shirt he wore beneath and his black dress pants, few would notice that he wore black sneakers instead of dress shoes. Not that any of the staff would mind either way.
Ann wore a red jacket over a delightfully pink top, a modest cream coloured skirt with black leggings and heels.
Ryuji almost stumbled over his own feet at the sight of Makoto, making Menma grin, "H-holy…"
"You look gorgeous, Niijima-senpai!" Ann gushed, looking the Student Council President up and down.
"Th-thank you very much, Takamaki-san. But please, we're outside of school, you may call me Makoto." The prez allowed.
"Only if you call me, Ann." Insisted the blonde, "But wow… I had no idea you liked this kind of get-up." At the raised brow she clarified, "It's just that, black and spiderwebs are usually a specific kind of clothing trend, not that they don't suit you."
"Ahh, Uzumaki-san! Your party has arrived?" One of the staff questioned, a bright smile on his face.
"Indeed, would you be so kind as to guide us to our booth?" At the man's nod they all followed him through the restaurant into one of the many back rooms, there was a large booth with plenty of leg room, black leather seating and snazzy red carpet, the backdrop for their meal would be a fish tank filled with various colourful sea life.
"It was actually Menma's idea for me to wear this, he bought it for me a few weeks ago… he only just convinced me to put it on." Makoto informed as they were seated.
"I'll be right back with some menu's for you." Assured the waiter.
"Holy crap, Senpai. Are you sure this is okay?" Ryuji asked, looking around it all seemed pretty frivolous.
"Well we could have gone higher up on the metaphorical totem pole but at one point you run into crotchety rich people who get insulted at the idea of teenagers dining within the same postcode." Menma said with a chuckle, "Besides, I felt like seafood."
"And showing off is just a bonus?" Akira jabbed with a grin, Menma matched it broadly.
"Got 'er in one." The two shared a quick laugh as Ann prodded Makoto.
"Sooo~ how long have you and Menma been dating?" She questioned with an impish grin.
"A-About three months, he asked me out when we were in the gym one day." Makoto informed, a fond smile on her face.
"How romantic." Ann drawled goodnaturedly.
"O-oh I thought it was sweet, he was blushing and stumbling over himself to get it out. I think I'm his first girlfriend, he's my first boyfriend at least. So I thought it was incredibly sweet to see this usually confidant and self-assured guy crumble into a mess." Makoto's grin gradually got bigger before she broke out into a delightful giggle, Ann quickly joining her.
"Uh-oh Senpai, looks like big tough guys just a softy." Ryuji ribbed playfully.
"Oh I'm a total sap when it comes to romance, I had no chance." Menma admitted shamelessly.
"Diiiish~" Ann demanded, as the menu's came, "Oh, thank you!"
"Not a problem Miss. Uzumaki-san here's you call button, please alert us if you need anything." The man placed a small button on the table and bowed before leaving.
"Thank you." Menma said cordially, "Nice people here."
"Do you really want to hear about this?" Makoto questioned Ann with an almost clueless expression.
"Of course! It's totally cute, you guys are so stoic and serious at school." Ann said as though it was the most obvious thing in the world.
"I'm not stoic." Makoto rebuked, "I just take my studies seriously, the students know that."
"Sure." Ryuji said with a chortle, Akira snorted into his menu.
"W-what? I'm not!" She assured, looking to Ann, "Why would you say I'm stoic?"
"W-well it's just that-"
"We don't exactly go out of our way to socialise, love." Menma commented, as he looked over the menu, one arm around Makoto's waist, "That'd probably be why."
"Y-Yeah! It's just that you guys are usually so busy with your duties no one gets to see your softer sides." Ann quickly went with the que from Menma who looked at her and wink with a grin.
"Well… I suppose you have a point." Makoto grudgingly admitted.
"So~~ How'd you to meet anyway?" Ryuji prodded.
Menma hummed for a moment, "I suppose we first met when my folks bought the apartment next to Makoto's. I was being a moody shit and decided to go downstairs to the communal gym to punch my angst out against a bag."
"I was on the treadmill when all of a sudden I hear these grunts and something heavy slamming against a bag, at first I thought someone brought a bat into the gym or something." Makoto continued, laughing, "I suppose in hindsight that's silly."
"What had you in a mood?" Akira questioned idly.
"One story at a time." Menma chided, wagging his finger. "Anyway, as I'm going at it who do I see but this fine specimen? Being a hot blooded youth I had to take to the cute girl in the gym, it's almost destiny at that point."
"Getting a little dramatic aren't we?" Makoto said with a chuckle.
"Well I do have a flair for it." Menma said with a grin as he leant into her.
"We can all attest to that." Akira said pointedly, getting a chuckle from his senior.
"Sounds like we'll have plenty of stories tonight." Makoto said, pleased at the idea of consistent conversation.
"Anyway, so that's how we met initially. We bonded over gym time and academics at first but then I discovered that a certain someone had a deep fondness for Yakuza and western action movies." Makoto blushed as her partner shared that tidbit, "Turns out that Niijima rabbit hole goes deep, just to keep things level she learned about my love for cute things and cooking."
"Cute things?" Ann questioned with a grin.
"Puppies, kittens, babies. The usual stuff."
"And baby birds." It was Makoto's turn to grin wolfishly, "One time a bird flew into his window so he nursed it back to health, it ended up giving birth to a clutch of eggs and Menma turned into a gooey mess at the sight of them."
The redhead's cheek matched his hair as he laughed sheepishly, "They're adorable."
"You still got the birds?" Ryuji questioned.
"Nah, they got old enough and flew off one day. Makes sense I suppose they're wild." Menma explained with a shrug.
"So how did you go from gym/movie buddies to ritzy dating duo?" Akira asked, knitting his fingers before his face and leaning into them, hiding his grin.
"Well we spent about two years getting to know one another, eventually I just cracked and had to ask her she said yes, we went to… we went to a BBQ place for out first date right?" Menma questioned both himself and Makoto.
"We did, you were so hungry you got sauce all over your face and couldn't even open the napkin dispenser your hands were so greasy." She broke into a fit of giggles at that, the image of a laughing Makoto wiping a dirty Menma's face filled everyones heads and very quickly they all joined in the laughter.
"Cuuuute~" Ann gushed, between bouts of giggles.
"So, shall we order?" Menma asked with a roll of his eyes, "I dunno about you all but I'm a hungry boy."
"Should we get you some napkins ahead of time?" Akira asked with a chuckle.
Menma facepalmed, "Walked right into that one."
"You super did." The blond delinquent informed, covering his face with his hands so his laughter didn't get too loud.
We swapped stories from that point on. That was probably one of the better nights I had in a while. Reguardless it affirmed us as a group, and brought us all closer together. I even made sure the cat got a carepackage home,
How noble of you.
Sarcasm is unbecoming of you Miss Niijima.
[End]
Extra long chapter this time, I just kept writing and it didn't seem to stop. I'm enjoying this a lot actually :).
Hope you are all too, if so/if not, lemme know.
Raxychaz!