Soul of a Fate Gamer

by SolKaiser1

Souls are interesting things, said to contain the experiences of your previous lives. Reincarnation is weirder, a new life, a new person made from the same soul but doesn't remember his or her past life. This soul may remember but she might end up with more than she thought she would.

17. Chapter 16

~X~

~ May 16 - Tokyo Police Headquarters - Noon ~

So… things didn't exactly go according to plan. Merlin gave me my phone back, and I called the person who could sweep the missing person case under the rug. I was going to lay low inside Sojiro's house until that person got here, but Sojiro came home to check on Futaba for some reason and found me.

He tried to find out what happened to me, but I wouldn't say anything. So, he called the police to let them know I'd been found. And for some reason, some uniformed officers took me to police headquarters to talk to Date-san.

Now here I am, in an interview room, with Date-san, who showed up an hour after I arrived.

"Yuki, please tell me what's going on," he tried once again.

I kept quiet. I felt pretty bad doing this to him. I know he wants to help me, and he's gone very out of his way to help Kiryu but… How the heck could I get him involved with the Metaverse business?

Before Date could ask another question, the door opened, and someone came in. It was a man of average height. He had medium-length slicked-back hair that started to grey, and he was wearing a pinstriped charcoal grey suit with a gold and black tie.

…Why does this guy look familiar?

"Commissioner?" Date turned in this seat to face the man. "What are you doing here?"

"Detective, this case is over," the Commissioner ordered.

"What?" Date stood up from his seat in shock.

Just then, Rin Tohsaka entered the room, grabbed me by the arm, and led me out. Date looked like he wanted to say something, but he took one glance at the commissioner and kept quiet. I could tell from the emotions on his face that he was worried for me. He probably has no idea what to make of this and was thinking up all kinds of scenarios.

"Sorry," I mouthed to him, letting my guilt show. Damnit, Merlin. Why'd you have to send me to the Palace in such a way?

…Maybe I could bring him into the loop about the Phantom Thieves one day… But I don't feel confident doing it now.

~X~

Rin led me out of the police headquarters, and it looked like we were walking toward the train station.

"So… Where are we going?" I spoke up. I couldn't stand the silence.

"To my house in Meguro," she replied stoically.

Uh-oh. Her tone doesn't sound good for my well-being. "Your house?"

"It's in my name," she answered in the same tone.

And once again the silence returned.

We took the train to Shibuya Station, we hopped on a train that goes to a station close to the house, then we walked the rest of the way. We walked up to the house and I used my keys to open the door.

We walked in and the first thing that happened was that Zacien tackled me to the ground and started licking my face. Ralts greeted me while sitting on Zacien.

"What the hell?!" Rin shouted. That's the first amount of emotion I'd heard from her all day.

"Hey! Come on! Zacien, stop!" I said while laughing. I kept trying to protect my face, but she was too fast. But that's enough fun. "Seriously, Zacien, I got important things to do."

After a couple more licks Zacien hopped off. I got up and barely had time to stand when a small missile crashed into me and wrapped her arms around me. I was just able to catch my balance.

"You're back!" Rei shouted excitedly in English. I hugged her back. "Why didn't you tell me you were going on a school trip?"

"School trip?" I asked as Rei released me.

She nodded. "That's what Mister Sebas and Miss Saber said."

"I see." It probably was best that she didn't know I was missing.

"Hi, Miss Rin," Rei greeted Rin once she noticed her.

"Hello," Rin said in heavily accented English. It seems she as least knows that much.

I shook my head. I still can't get over the fact she can barely speak English.

"Lady Yuki, I am glad to see you have returned," Sebas entered the foyer and bowed to me.

Rin blinked at the butler and then turned to me. "Who's this?"

"I'll explain later," I said, then turned to Rei. "Why don't you go have some fun? I need to talk about important stuff with Rin."

"Okay," Rei nodded and left, Zacien and Ralts following her.

I motioned for the other two to follow and headed toward the kitchen. When we got there, Artoria was already there, sitting at the table.

"Yuki," Artoria greeted with a nod. "I am glad to see you in one piece. Though I would like to know what happened that caused you to disappear."

"Haah, it's a long story," I took a seat as did the others, minus Sebas. "Sebas, could you make us some tea? This will take a while."

Sebas bowed slightly and went to prepare it. Things lulled into silence until Rin spoke up.

"So, do you want to tell me why I went through all that trouble? I had to call in several favors the Ministry owes me to get the police to back off," Rin said.

"It's better if I show you," I said.

"Show me what?"

I smirked in response. Blue fire appeared around my eyes, then disappeared to show my mask. Rin was surprised, and Artoria had a look of recognition. I grabbed the mask and pulled it off. It went up and disappeared in blue flames. To my left, the Persona appeared.

It was a man of average height with short spikey black hair and red eyes on a rather charming face. He wore a white button-down shirt, a vivid red jacket with gold trim, a black tie, black slacks, black shoes, and a red fedora with a white band.

"Bonjour," the man tipped his fedora. "My name is Arsene Raoul Lupin, the Gentleman Thief. A pleasure to make your acquaintance.

Silence.

I was surprised when he showed up. This version of Arsene is the one known as Raoul. As in Ren Amamiya's third-tier Persona. A part of me didn't think I could get this one but here he is. He's not as powerful as he was in the game, not yet at least, but I'm not complaining.

Everyone stared at Arsene for various reasons.

Artoria was staring at Raoul with a mixture of curiosity and wariness as my Persona did introduce himself as a thief.

Rin was gaping in disbelief. She stared at Raoul, then at me, then back to Raoul, and kept going back and forth. I could see the gears turning in her head. She then stood up from her seat, pointed at me, and shouted. "You're a Magician!?"

At this time, Sebas walked up with the tea and placed it on the table with five tea cups on saucers. He then placed a tray with some ham and cheese tea sandwiches in the center. He picked up the teapot, poured the tea, and passed them to each of us.

"Ah, merci," Raoul thanked. He picked up the tea and swirled it a bit. "Hm, black tea… A classic. I usually prefer coffee but I do partake of a cup of tea from time to time," he took a sip and gave a pleased hum.

Artoria was scarfing down the tea sandwiches. I was able to grab a couple before she ate them all and Sebas replaced the empty tray with a full one. How Artoria managed to eat and drink so much with perfect etiquette is beyond me.

I took a sip of my tea. It was pretty good.

"Hey! Don't ignore me!" Rin was glaring at me with a twitch in her eye. She hasn't touched her tea.

I placed my tea down. "Rin, you should have some tea. You should calm down for a conversation like this."

Rin narrowed her eyes but conceded. She sat and slowly had some tea. "So, the Third Magic?"

I took a breath. "Well, I'll have to start at the beginning."

"That's usually a good place to start," Rin dryly quipped.

So, I started to tell her my story in detail starting from when I arrived in Tokyo, my first day of school, Kamoshida's Castle, and stopped at my Awakening.

"Haah, well, it's a good thing I studied Jung and analytical psychology," Rin massaged her forehead to try and relieve her headache. "But I still don't understand how accepting your Shadow got you the Third Magic."

"Maybe you'll get more insight when I tell the rest of my story," I said and Rin nodded.

I moved on with my story. I briefly went over Singularity F, this time telling her the stuff I left out like dying to Archer and meeting Merlin in my soul. I wasn't clueless about how I got Caliburn, and that I also had Avalon. Now that Rin knew about my Personas, the appearance of Merlin and Eligor made more sense.

"So, what happened to you was a sort of, Second Awakening," Rin said.

"I guess you could call it that," I said.

"And now you can summon in reality instead of just the Cognitive World," Rin glanced at Raoul, who was talking with Saber, and shook her head. "And this Cognitive World and Velvet Room… I'll ask later. Keep going with your story."

I nodded and moved on to how my friends and I formed the Phantom Thieves, about finding a new target, Mementos, and finally about how Merlin trapped me in a Palace which was the reason for my disappearance.

"Hmm. So, that's why you called me. There's no plausible way you could explain your disappearance," Rin said. She kept quiet and looked to be thinking about all the information she heard. "To be honest, I'm not sure I like this. The fact that someone or something gave you and your friends the ability to summon multiple-"

"Oh, actually, only I can summon multiple Personas," I interrupted. "The other Phantom Thieves can only summon one Persona and it's one that closely resonates with their soul."

"I see. Still, a being can give access to the Heaven's Feel, even if limited," Rin stroked her chin in thought. "I don't suppose you know anything more about Personas and Shadows?"

"Just some of what the Shadows in the Pyramid told me," I started. The Shadows didn't really tell me much, but they make for an excellent excuse to explain away my meta-knowledge. "Apparently most of the people who obtain Personas have the power unlocked by a being called Philemon."

"Philemon?"

"A manifestation of the Collective Unconsciousness, the personification of humanity's benevolence and hope," Rin's eyes widened then her face switched to a look of deep thought. I kept talking. "His counterpart, the other side of the coin, is Nyarlathotep.

Not the actual Outer God," I quickly told her as I saw her eyes widen in panic. "It's also a manifestation of the Collective Unconsciousness. The personification of humanity's malevolence and desire for destruction.

These two used to have a hand in guiding and manipulating humanity but, according to the Shadows, not so much anymore. Nyarlathotep decided to leave humanity alone, and Philemon still guides from time to time but he's more hands-off about it now."

Rin was quiet for a while. She thinking very deeply about the info bomb I dumped on her. "I knew the Collective Unconsciousness was a powerful thing but this much? Though I guess I shouldn't be too surprised. All magi know about Alaya and her Counter Force. If Alaya exists then, logically, others like it could exist as well with power as strong as it. But to have the power to give people access to True Magic…" she fell silent and was probably thinking once again.

She suddenly threw up her hands in frustration. "Aaaah! Mou! This is just so confusing!" she then took some deep breaths to calm down. "According to these Shadows, this Persona business has been going on for a long time, right?" I nodded. "Then why is this the first time I've ever heard of it? Did the Shadows mention events similar to what's happening now with these Palaces?"

"Well, they did mention something about murders that happened 5 years ago in Inaba, a town in the Yamanashi prefecture. And something happened on Tatsumi Port Island in 2008."

"Hmm… Well, that at least gives me a place to start looking," Rin put on her thinking face again before speaking.

~X~

"I'll think on this when I have the time. I want to talk to you about the other thing we talked about on the phone." Rin said.

Ah, I was wondering when we'd get to that.

"You're truly ready to begin working to close the portals?"

"Yeah," I nodded. Rin nodded in return with a slight smile on her face. "Let's get into it right now. What can you tell me about this whole 'portal' business?"

"It all started 3 years ago. All of a sudden, multiple cracks in reality started appearing across the planet. Eventually, those cracks opened up, and many beings and deities connected to nature and the planet started screaming out in pain. Investigations were done by multiple factions to find out what these things were. And it was soon found out they were portals to other worlds. That was when greed and politics decided to show up," Rin shook her head at the last sentence.

"Let me guess. All the factions wanted to know what they could gain from these new worlds while completely ignoring the fact that these portals were slowly killing our world," I said dryly.

"Well, to be fair, it wasn't until 3 years later that some accepted our world was destabilizing,"

"Accepted?" I raised an eyebrow at her choice of words.

"Even though a number of gods, goddesses, and other supernatural beings related to nature were saying the world was destabilizing, Demeter of the Greek Pantheon and the Yokai of Japan being chief among them, nobody really listened to them. Most still believe the world is perfectly fine," Rin scoffed. "They want to gain more power for themselves and think these other worlds will help them do that. Idiots."

I scoffed as well. Leave it to the ones in power to ruin everything. "So… are you working with one of these factions?"

Rin nodded. "In a sense. I work with the Japanese Ministry, and they and the Yokai have asked the Shinto Pantheon for help with this crisis. They agreed and the Shinto Pantheon is working together with the Yokai and the Japanese Ministry to research these portals to try and find a way to close them. We never really made any progress on that. Well, that is until you closed one," Rin said. "You know, I still haven't told them about that."

I blinked at that. "Why not?"

"You were overwhelmed when I told you. I wanted you to think things out. if I told the people I work with, they would've demanded I bring you in immediately and steamroll forward with no concern for you. The world was ending. Your inconvenience would not be a priority to them."

"Huh, thinks," I smiled at her. "What about the other factions? What are they doing about this?"

"Not much." Rin shrugged. "Some groups are trying to exploit this to their advantage, some are indifferent, and some we don't know. As far as I know, only those of us in Japan are actively trying to close them."

"That's a bit disappointing, that only one of the major groups is trying to save the world," I huffed then moved on. "So, how do we go about this? Do I just head over to one of the portals and jump through?"

"Not yet. I want to contact some people in the task force created to deal with these portals and bring them in the loop. They will most likely want to interview and make a dossier on you. So, be ready for that when it comes," Rin said. "But until then, you'll have some free time for a while. I suggest you read up on those books I gave you when you left Fuyuki. They have some useful wizarding spells you can learn."

I nodded in response.

"Right then," Rin stood up. "I'm going to head to the Japanese Ministry to get the ball rolling.

"Don't tell them about my True Magic and Phantom Thief activities. I'd like to keep those close to the chest," I said.

"I won't. I can understand hiding some trump cards." Rin looked at me and I thought I saw a nervous look on her face. But just as quickly as I saw it, it disappeared. "I'll come back when I have some news for you about this," Rin made her way out. "Until next time."

~X~

Moving on. With the conversation with Rin done, I have some free time, and it's been five days since I've been home.

"Saber, you, me, and Rei are going to binge-watch some movies!" I stood and declared. "Gather the MCU movies."

Saber didn't blink at all at my declaration as she was used to this. She stood and nodded. "Despite my distrust of your chosen profession, it was surprisingly a pleasure to speak with you, Gentleman Thief."

"You as well, Your Majesty," Raoul returned a nod and Saber left to get things ready.

I sat down and snacked on some of the tea sandwiches, that Saber thankfully didn't get to, and had some more tea. I took my time with it as it was pretty relaxing.

"Haaaaah!" I groaned loudly and laid down on my arms on the table.

"Quite the situations we're in, eh Summoner?" Raoul said.

"You could say that again…" I groaned again.

Just thinking of balancing Phantom Thief work with Social Links and dimension hopping is making my head hurt.

"Look on the bright side, Summoner," Raoul spoke up. "Wild Cards never fight alone. Your friends and confidants are proof of that. Those also lead to the multitude of Personas you can summon. Including the best of them all, yours truly," Raoul gloated and gestured to himself.

"Wild Cards are never alone… I guess that's true," I said

Or mostly true. Akechi comes to mind. I guess that also reflects why he only had two Personas.

…

Akechi…

Haah… How complicated.

I deal with him when I get to it.

"Well, I don't wish to impose further on your family time," Raoul finished his tea and placed down his cup. "Call me when you need me. Au revoir, Summoner," Raoul tipped his fedora and disappeared in motes of blue.

~X~

~ Museum of Vanity - After School ~

I watched the first two Iron Man movies with Rei and Saber before I remembered what today was. I made my way to Madarame's shack to see if my friends moved forward with Phantom Thief activities and it turns out they did. Things started playing out almost like they did in the game, so I decided to head to Madarame's Palace ahead of them to surprise them when they arrive.

I got to say, the looks on their faces were pretty funny.

"Yuki!?" they all shouted.

"Took you guys long enough." I placed my hands in my pockets and smirked at them.

"Where the heck have you been!?" Skull shouted.

"Oh, you know. Places," I shrugged, being intentionally vague.

"Really, Joker?" Mona said, calling out on my vagueness.

"I'll explain later," I waved the question away. "Don't we have a Palace to investigate?"

"How'd you know about this place?" Ann said.

"Like I said, I'll explain later," I said. "Now, let's get a move on. There's a way to get in from the side," I walked in that direction.

The others looked at each other annoyed at my lack of answers, but they shrugged and followed. We hopped up on a truck that was next to the wall and then hopped over the wall. I led them to the side and hopped up on some stone structures. We hopped across several of them and then climbed to the roof where I led them to an open skylight.

"Here we are. This is the entrance I found," I gestured to the skylight. "It's too long of a drop. You wouldn't happen to have any rope, would you?" I asked Mona.

"Hmph, of course I do," Mona gloated. "I'm a tool specialist, after all."

He pulled out the rope and tied it to a pipe attached to the wall and tossed the other side down the skylight. We all climbed down into a gallery room with some portraits of people on the wall.

"Whoa… Check this place out," Skull looks around the room at all the different portraits.

"Ugh, the paintings are… moving," Panther said a little freaked out.

"We're in a Palace. And besides, it's not like this is the freakiest thing we've seen," Skull said.

I stepped toward one of the paintings and saw a plaque right below it. "Hmm, there's no title, just a name and age."

"Hey, this one's got the same, "Skull said from in front of a different painting.

"This one too," Panther said by another painting.

"Hmm," Mona looked to be thinking. "What do you think of all of this, Joker?"

"I have an idea, but I want to see more first to confirm my theory," I said.

We made our way into another room that had more portraits and names. Then we went down a connecting hallway that had even more portraits. Along the way, I made sure to write down the names of each of the names. It's a little disturbing seeing just how many people Madarame screwed over.

"Whoa! You guys might want to look at this," Skull shouted from ahead of us.

The rest of us moved to catch up to him and saw a portrait of someone familiar.

"Isn't this that guy from Mementos? The one screwed over my Madarame?" Skull pointed at the portrait.

"Natsuhiko Nakanohara…" Mona read the name on the plaque.

"Dude, I don't get it. Why's there a painting of him here?" Skull said. "And more important, why's his name written under it?"

"You're right… Doesn't art usually have like the title of the piece or the artist's name?" Panther said.

"Let's keep looking around for now," Mona suggested, and we moved on.

Halfway down the hall, I was still copying down the names when one name made me do a double-take.

"What's up?" Skull stopped and asked when he noticed I had stopped. Panther and Mona stopped as well.

"This portrait…" I stared at it and then turned to my teammates. "The plaque attached to it has the name, Koyuki Kitagawa."

"What?"

"Really now…"

"For real!?"

Seems they all made the connection.

"Yes, she has the same family name as Madarame's current student, Yusuke Kitagawa," I didn't expect to see this, but it makes sense. She was a student of Madarame's.

I can see, on their faces, that they don't know what to think of this information.

"Who is she? A sister? A cousin?" Skull took some guesses.

"How do you know about Yusuke?" Mona said.

"I did my research on Madarame. Let's move on," I said, and we kept going.

We didn't get very far as at the end of the hall was another portrait of someone familiar.

"What? No way!" Panther drew attention to the portrait.

"Hey, isn't this a painting of that guy?" Skull said.

"Skull, how do you not remember his name? You've met him," I couldn't help but say. It was mainly to myself, so no one answered me.

"The plaque says 'Yusuke Kitagawa'. There's no mistaking it," Mona said.

"What do you think these paintings are?" Panther asked me.

I stayed silent for a bit and looked at the portraits we passed down the hallway, then back at Yusuke's portrait. "These portraits are of Madarame's students, past and present."

"That makes sense, given everything we've seen so far," Mona nodded in agreement.

"For real!? All of 'em?" Skull stared back down the hallway at all the other portraits in disbelief. "But it was only Yusuke when we went to his place before."

"Like I said, these are past students as well, like Nakanohara," I said. "These portraits… these are how Madarame sees his students. He doesn't see them as people. He sees them as… projects. Something that brought him fame and money. In a way, this is evidence that the plagiarism claims are true."

"Looks like we're getting a clearer picture of what's going on," Mona said. "Let's keep investigating. We need to find something to further confirm our deductions.

We went down some stairs into a very opulent lobby. In from of the front desk was a rack that had several brochures. I picked up one of them to see what was in it.

"Hm? Find somethin'," Skull said.

"There's a map of the museum on here, but it's only for this floor," I said, looking over the map.

I lockpicked a couple of treasure chests in the lobby, and then we moved forward into a large circular exhibition room. The walls were the color of sunset and a black tree branch design made its way to the door in the back. Some banners were hanging that were of the same color and artistic style, but instead of tree branches, it was Madarame's face.

In the center of the room was this large gold sculpture. It was twisting upward, like a cyclone of war, and inside this cyclone were several human sculptures.

"'The Infinite Spring'?" Panther walked up to the nameplate. "'A conglomerate work of art that the great director Madarame created with his own funds. These individuals must offer their ideas to the director for the rest of their lives…'" As Panther read, her voice was slowly becoming more horrified as we realized what this was implying. "'Those who cannot do so have no worth living!?'"

"Well, this proves it. The plagiarism and the abuse," I said. "He works his 'pupils' like slaves to create art that he takes credit for. It's how he's able to create art with so many different styles," I crossed my arms as I thought this out.

"In other words, he sees his pupils as nothing but 'projects' and 'property'," Mona scowled. "If that's true, then he doesn't even qualify as an artist."

"Or a teacher for that matter," I continued this line of thought. "He's nothing but a con artist. His success comes entirely from other people's hard work. His students have no other worth than that."

"The summary on the plate and the fact he sees his pupils as nothing but painting is proof of that," Mona said. "It looks like the only thing he gives them in return is securing their livelihood. But that's only for as long as they can provide new paintings for him. Once that runs out…"

"He throws them out and slanders them so they can't speak out against him or find their own success," I continued. "After all, it would be suspicious if a student of his started making paintings that were in a very similar style to some of Madarame's. People would start asking questions."

"Why's Yusuke keepin' quiet about this? He's got no reason to cover this up!" Skull protested.

"Kitagawa-kun did say that he owes Madarame for taking him in…" Panther answered. "Actually, back at the exhibit-"

"Exhibit?" I had to ask. I knew what she was talking about, but I wasn't there for their investigation.

"Oh, right. We ran into Kitagawa-kun, Madarame's student, out in the streets. He asked me to model for one of his paintings and then invited us to an art exhibit Madarame was doing," Panther answered and I nodded. "Anyway, there was a painting there that I praised while he showed me around, but he acted… strange. I wanted to look at it closer, but he pulled me away from it," Panther looked at us. "I think that painting was made by Kitagawa-kun, and Madarame plagiarized it."

"Most likely," I nodded and agreed with her.

Skull turned to me. "So what's the call, Leader? Ain't this enough to target Madarame?"

"Yeah, I believe so," I nodded. "However, we still need to do some investigating. We'll have to talk to Yusuke and see if we can get him to admit to anything. We could also try to find Nakanohara in the real world, see if he has anything to add about Madarame. You two should get in contact with the guy that runs the Phansite. Mishima, I think you told me his name is? See if he can set up a meeting with Nakanohara," the other two nodded.

"I'll contact Kitagawa-kun and accept his modeling offer," Panther said.

Mona's head snapped to Panther so fast I thought he would break his neck. "Wait, you're gonna do that?" he said, his eyes wide in shock.

"It would give us the chance to talk to him," Panther said. "Just… you'll all come with me. right?"

"Sure," I nodded again. "So, we have a plan and everyone knows your roles?

"Panther will contact Yusuke and set up a meeting for the modeling thing," Panther nodded.

"Skull, you contact Mishima, who, for some reason, I haven't met yet, and see if he can set up a meeting with Nakanohara," Skull nodded.

"And I will contact someone who will research these names," everyone had questioning looks, so I explained further. "I've been taking down the names of Madarame's students from those portraits. I know someone good at research and can look up these people, maybe see what happened to them after they stopped being Madarame's pupils, and maybe even interview them about their time as Madarame's student."

"Oh, I see. They were close to Madarame. So, we could potentially find out more about what he's really like. The same reason why we want to talk to the Yusuke boy and Nakanohara," Mona said and I nodded. There's more to it than that but that's the main idea.

"Either way, a renowned artist, huh? This might be tougher than Kamoshida," Skull said, a wide grin spreading across his face. "This is our first real mission as the Phantom Thieves, so we gotta succeed no matter what."

"But before we move forward…" I paused here, then spoke again. "I need to talk to you guys about what happened while I was missing."

~X~

~ Emiya Residence - Evening ~

After leaving the Palace, I had Morgana in my bag once again and led Ryuji and Ann to my house in Meguro. It was the best place to talk privately. I sent a message ahead to Saber to stay out of sight for now and a message to Sebas to keep Rei out of sight. I don't want to introduce Ryuji and Ann to them yet. But I will, eventually.

We headed into the house, I showed them to the kitchen, and we sat at the table. Ryuji and Ann couldn't stop looking around. But they had to stop as I began to tell them why I was missing.

"Right, so, here's was happened," I said and everyone was paying close attention I decided to be blunt. "The night before exams were to start, I ended up in a Palace."

"What!?"

"Really!?'

"For real!?"

That got everyone's attention.

"Yup. I woke up in the middle of a desert." And then, for the second time today, I told the story. I talked about how I saw a town and a pyramid in the distance, made it there, was attacked by shadows, passed out, and then woke up and met the Palace's ruler.

"And she didn't try to attack you or kick you out?" Ann said.

"No. She actually wanted my help," I said.

"What for?" Ryuji said.

"She wanted me to change her heart."

"What?" Ann asked, her eyebrows raised in surprise.

"Well, to understand why I'll need to tell you about the Palace ruler, Futaba Sakura."

And so I gave them an abridged version of Futaba's story. I told them about how her mother supposedly committed suicide in front of her, and how some terrible adults and her relatives lead her into believing it was her fault her mom was dead, which led to her suicidal thoughts.

They reacted as well as I thought they would.

"What the hell!" Ryuji shouted and slammed his fist on the table. "That's so messed up!"

Ann shook her head in disbelief. "How could her relatives do such a thing?"

Morgana had a grim look.

"How could she have a Palace?" Ryuji said. "I thought only bad guys had those."

"That's not necessarily true," I said. "Palaces are created from warped desires. Something like the desire of 'I want to help people' can be twisted into 'I must save everyone no matter what'."

"Huh…" Ryuji said.

"Anyway, let's move on."

I talked about hanging out with Shadow Futaba, the anime marathons, and the video games. Then there was how Futaba herself somehow ended up in her own Palace.

When I brought up the message that mentioned the 'Servant of Philemon', I saw Morgana's eyes have a glassy look.

"Hey, Morgana? You okay?" I shook him a bit.

"Huh? What?" Morgana shook his head as if to shake away his distraction.

"You kinda zoned out there," Ryuji said.

"Sorry, it's just… that name…" Morgana trailed. "Nevermind, I felt like I was going to remember something, but I can't. Just move on with the story," I guess the name Philemon almost jarred loose some of his lost memories.

I moved on with the story finishing the chat between Futaba, her Shadow, and me. They were all surprised to hear that Shadow Futaba was willing to help bring about a 'change of heart'. I talked about the gold and jewels I got and finally the fight with Cognitive Wakaba with Futaba's Awakening.

"...Damn," Ryuji said. "You took it out on your own? It took four of us to beat Kamoshida, and that was pretty tough."

"Well, Futaba helped out. And that made the fight go quicker," I scratched my cheek. "I got lucky that the fight went so smoothly."

"You shouldn't play down your skill, Yuki," Ann said. "I don't think any of us could've done what you did in that scenario."

"I admit even I would've had a hard time soloing a Palace," Morgana added. "Take your credit where credit's due. Humbleness doesn't suit you."

I shook my head. I guess I should be thankful they believe in my abilities.

"Anyway, what about Futaba? She has a Persona now," Ann asked. I can see what she's getting at.

"I'm going to invite her to the Phantom Thieves," I answered. "The chances are high she'll accept. When she does accept, I'll introduce you guys to her."

"Based on what you told us about her skills, it sounds like she'll contribute a lot," Mona said.

"Yup, she'll be the group's hacker and can also act as our navigator," I said. Then I saw Morgana frown a little at someone else taking that role. I'll need to nip this in the bud early.

"Morgana, you're not a bad navigator," I started, and Morgana looked surprised that I caught on to his feelings. "Futaba's hacking skills and Persona make her much more suited to this support role. Besides, this can also free you up to focus more on your other roles as one of our fighters and as a mentor."

I saw my words helped him, but his feelings weren't entirely resolved.

"So… any questions?" they all shook their heads. "Right then, I'll see you tomorrow at school."

Ryuji and Ann said their goodbyes and left. Morgana decided to stay with me since I'm back.

"When are you going to tell them about the magical world?" Morgana asked. I can tell from his tone he's expecting to stall for as long as I can.

"Sooner than you think."

~X~

~ Café Leblanc - Evening ~

Tonight was a quiet night between me and Sojiro. I was helping him close the shop like usual but we didn't really say anything to each other. He's worried for me because I went missing and I haven't told him anything because I can't say anything to explain it away. It would be easier to tell him the truth, but Rin told me to keep quiet about magic to him.

…Although, she didn't tell me to keep quiet to my fellow Phantom Thieves.

BANG

"Gah!" Sojiro jumped.

"Sojiro! I'm here for curry!" Futaba cheered as she slammed the door open.

Huh. She's up sooner than I thought. Good thing there are no customers right now. Otherwise, that would've been disruptive to them.

"Futaba!? What- You- Y-You're out of the house?" he asked in increasing disbelief.

"Yeah. I hungerrr for food!" Futaba took a seat up at the counter.

I chuckled at her playful tone and put together a plate of curry.

"I… I uh," I heard Sojiro sniffle. I turned to see that he was on the verge of crying. "I'm glad to see you out of the house."

"'I'm… sorry I worried you," Futaba also noticed the tears and felt the need to apologize.

"Ha… it's alright…" Sojiro sniffled some more and then left, probably so we didn't see him crying his tears of joy.

I placed the plate of curry and a cup of decaf coffee in front of Futaba.

"Thanks for the food!" she said and dug right in. Once she took the first bite, she froze. "Ohhh wow… I don't remember the curry ever being this good," she started eating the food faster.

"I cooked that one," I crossed my arms in slight confusion. "I don't know what it is I do differently. I always cook it the same way Sojiro showed me."

"It'sssh reawwy goof," Futaba talked with her mouth full. She swallowed her food and finished up her plate. "Seconds, please!" she pushed her plate toward me.

"Hah, sure," I took the plate and put together more curry.

"So, how'd things go with the police?" Futaba asked.

"Okay, I guess," I didn't say anymore and quickly changed the topic. "By the way, I had to tell my teammates about you."

"Oh? What'd you tell 'em?"

I used a Berkano rune to place a silencing bubble around us so no one could overhear. Even though there's no one in the shop, it's better to be on the safe side.

"I had to tell them why I disappeared. I told them about my time in your Palace, from when I first arrived to our fight against the Cognition. I also told them about your relatives and the fake suicide note," I placed the new plate of curry in front of her. I'm a little worried she might be upset with me for telling too much.

"Hmm, I guess that's alright. Your friends were going to find out anyway since I planned on joining you," she dug into her second serving of curry.

"You want to join the Phantom Thieves?" I had a whole sales pitch ready but it looks like I won't need it.

"Well, yeah. Your group is the best chance I have in finding the people behind her death," she said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"How do you figure?" I had to ask.

"My mom didn't commit suicide. So, that means someone… killed her," her voice broke a little when she said that, but I didn't point it out. "You know all those mental shutdown cases?" I nodded. "I was thinking, what if that's what my mom went through?" I raised an eyebrow. "There were others who knew about her research in Cognitve Psience. What if these people had access to the Metaverse and Palaces? Maybe they did something to her Shadow that caused a mental shutdown?"

"Why would these mystery people want to kill her?"

"Well, those cases of mental shutdowns didn't stop after her death. There are also those psychotic breakdowns. Maybe my mom would've recognized that these were connected to her research?"

Huh. So, Futaba already managed to speculate this much even though it was just this morning that she stopped blaming herself for her mother's death? She's really smart. If only Morgana was here to listen to this instead of heading out for a walk.

"It sounds plausible, but we have no proof," I said.

"Yeah, that's why I want to join. If these people are using the Metaverse then there's a good chance the Phantom Thieves will run into them," Futaba said.

"And why would that happen?"

"The Phantom Thieves are going to keep changing hearts, right?" I nodded. "Then this group will most likely realize that you're using the same thing they are, and if they're so messed up to kill someone and fake a suicide note to frame a kid then well…" Futaba let the implications hang. I knew what she meant.

"Hmm, I have no problems with you joining. I mean, we could use a hacker and navigator. But you know you'll have to meet the rest of the team, right?" I told her, knowing her social anxiety.

"I'll- I'll manage," Futaba already got nervous at the thought of meeting others. "You'll be there so it should be all right."

I gotta say, a part of me is surprised that Futaba feels so close to me. Then I remember everything we went through in her Palace, and it's not so surprising anymore.

"I am thou… Thou art I…
Thou hast acquired a new vow…

It shall become the wings of rebellion
that breaketh thy chains of captivity.

With the birth of the Hermit Persona
I have obtained the winds of blessing that
shall lead to freedom and new power…"

[Hermit Confidant (Futaba Sakura) has reached Rank 1.]

"You know, since you plan on joining the Phantom Thieves…" I said leadingly.

"Yeeesss?" Futaba smiled, playing along.

"Want to help out with our current heist?"

"What do you need?" she asked right away. I smiled a little at her eagerness.

"I need you to run background checks on these people," I pulled out my phone and sent Futaba the list of names I made from Madarame's Palace.

Futaba pulled out her phone and looked over the list. "Is there anything specific I need to look for?"

"I think all these people on this list were students of Ichiryusai Madarame. I want you to see what you can find about their time as his students and what happened to them when they were no longer his students," I said.

"Madarame…" Futaba was tapping away on her phone. "A famous painter, known as 'The Modern Day Hokusai'... Ooh, this is a little sus, rumors of abuse," I guess she's looking him up. She looked up from her phone. "So, the Phantom Thieves are going after him?"

"There's a good chance. We already explored his Palace a bit, and we want to confirm our findings before we fully commit," I then filled her in on what we found and our current plan going forward.

"Yeesh sounds like a real piece of work," Futaba commented. "When I get back home, I'll look up these people."

"Thanks," I picked up her finished plate of food and glass and started washing it in the sink.

"Wait, how'd you get my phone number?" she asked.

"Your Shadow."

"Ah."

~X~

~ May 17 - Madarame's Shack - After School ~

It was the next day and Ann, Ryuji, Morgana, and I were all at Madarame's shack. Ann contacted Yusuke today for the modeling thing, and Yusuke set it up for the same day. So, here we are.

"I thought it would just be you coming, Takamaki-san," Yusuke frowned at Ryuji and me who were sitting off to the side. Though he also looked confused when he looked at me as he's never met me before.

"Wouldn't you get nervous too, if it was just the two of us?" Ann said, looking away in nervousness.

"We're just here to make sure you don't do anything perverted," Ryuji said.

"Stop making assumptions. I have absolutely no interest in her as someone of the opposite sex," Yusuke said in exasperation.

"Huh?" Ann blinked and tilted her head.

"Is there a problem?" Yusuke asked, completely oblivious that his previous words could be taken as an insult. I'm sure he didn't mean it that way but still…

"No, not really," Ann sighed. She sat on a stool and posed in a way that felt natural to her.

"Well then, let's get started," Yusuke said.

He took a seat in front of his canvas and got started. Ryuji and Ann tried to talk to him about Madarame but he was too focused on his painting to hear.

"This isn't what we planned," Morgana complained. "We were supposed to catch him off guard and make him spill the beans."

"How were we supposed to know this was gonna happen?" Ryuji also complained. "Guess we gotta wait 'til he's done… What an effin' pain…"

"Morgana, why don't you take a look around the house, and see if you find anything interesting," I suggested.

"Good idea," Morgana walked out of the room.

~X~

A few hours passed with nothing but the sounds of painting, Ann was getting tired of holding her pose, Ryuji was close to falling asleep, and I was arguing with my Personas over which flavor of ice cream was the best. (Vanilla, by the way.)

We heard Yusuke sigh in defeat.

"It's no use…" Yusuke sighed again.

"I'm sorry. Am I the problem?" Ann apologized.

"No, no, it's just that…" Yusuke said apologetically and ran a hand through his hair in frustration. "I'm having trouble staying focused today. I'm sorry, but we'll have to resume this another time…"

"Oh, hell no!" Ryuji jumped up from his seat and glared down at Yusuke. "Do you have any idea how long you made us wait!?"

I stayed seated, choosing to observe for now.

"I'm sorry. We had another reason for seeing you today," Ann stood up from her stool. "We need to talk to you."

"It's about those rumors regarding your sensei," Ryuji said.

"This again…" Yusuke said and stood up. I could tell from his tone that he was annoyed and angry we were bringing this up.

"That painting at the exhibit… You're the one that actually painted it, right?" Ann said.

"That's…" Yusuke looked away in discomfort, unable to deny it.

"I knew it," Ann said. "The painting really is yours… and your sensei submitted it under his name."

Yusuke was knocked off balance with the truth, so now was a good time to keep pressing. So I stood and spoke. "You knew he stole your work and you know it's wrong. You know he's been doing this for some time with you and his other students, but you can't or won't speak out against it."

Yusuke didn't say anything and still looked away, but his hands were clenched like he was trying to keep his composure.

"Your sensei's seriously messed up," Ryuji spoke this time. "He just thinks of his pupils as tools. That's why he doesn't give a damn whether he steals their work or physically beats them. I'll make this clear, there's no point in hidin' stuff from us," he finished.

Yusuke let out a forced, bitter laugh. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

"You couldn't go against him, could you?" Ann said sympathetically. "I'm sure we could help you though…"

"Stop it…" Yusuke's voice regained its firmness. "It's just as you say, we're our sensei's 'artwork'," he admitted, and Ann and Ryuji were surprised by the admission. "Don't misunderstand me though. I offered my ideas to him myself. As such, it can't be called plagiarism.

Sensei is simply suffering from artist's block right now," Yusuke explained.

"But still!" Ryuji protested. "Then why're you stickin' around! All his other pupils ran away! Aren't you the only one left!?"

"What's wrong with a pupil helping out his master!" Yusuke snapped back. "There are no victims here! Stop pushing your self-centered righteousness on me!"

"What about the other pupils?" I questioned with a hard tone. "The ones who left."

Yusuke faltered and struggled to respond. He could say the abuse he suffered is not abuse in his eyes, but he can't say the other students would say the same.

He shook his head. "I'm supporting Sensei as his pupil. Where's the wrong in that?" he said, ignoring my question.

Yusuke sat back down on his stool, tired of this conversation. "Don't ever come here again… If you do, I'll sue you for causing a disturbance." he threatened in a low tone while staring at the floor.

"Hold it! We're not done talkin' here!" Ryuji argued.

We kind of are. Nothing is stopping him from kicking us out. And if we still don't leave he can just call the police.

"Then you leave me no choice," Yusuke stood up and pulled out his phone. "I'm reporting you to the police."

Like so.

"I asked Takamaki-san to be my model today, but I don't recall ever inviting you two here," Yusuke said. "I allowed it for Takamaki-san's sake but you have more than worn out your welcome.

"What the 'eff, man!" Ryuji shouted.

"Ryuji, calm down!" Ann interjected herself between the two. "Both of you, please."

Ryuji growled in frustration but backed off.

"Very well, I won't report you," Yusuke slowly put away his phone. "But only under one condition."

"What's that?" Ann said.

"I want you to continue being my model, Takamaki-san," Yusuke turned to Ann.

"But you said that it wasn't working out today…"

"That's because I was unconsciously being modest for your sake…" Yusuke replied. "However, I have nothing to worry about anymore. If you're willing to bare everything to me…"

"Huh…?" Ann and Ryuji were confused by his wording.

"I will put my heart and soul into creating the best nude painting ever!"

…

…

"WHAT!?"

"NUDE!?"

"Ah, to think I'd be able to create a nude painting with my most ideal model!" Yusuke said to himself, lost in thought.

"Pfft!" I had to cover my mouth to hide my laughter.

"This isn't funny, Yuki!" Ann shouted at me.

It took a bit of effort to calm myself down. In all seriousness, Ann is right. Yusuke is basically blackmailing us. 'Pose nude for me or I'll have you arrested' is what he's saying.

"Of course, you two won't be allowed in, and I ask that you forget about our discussion today, as well," Yusuke said, to me and Ryuji. "If I don't submit a new piece to Sensei soon, there will be some… inconveniences," he trailed.

"Hold on! Nude, meaning it'll be without clothes, right!?" Ann panicked. "Why are things escalating so suddenly!?"

"Because those are my terms," Yusuke simply said.

"But that's-" Ann tried to say but was interrupted.

"Sensei is out during the afternoon while the art exhibit is on, so I can use this place freely," Yusuke continued, already thinking ahead. "I should buy more art supplies."

"Will you give me a second here!?" Ann tried to get a word of protest in.

"Of course. I'll make time according to your plans. But, please come before the exhibit ends," Yusuke said, completely misunderstanding her words and kept barreling forward. "Sensei will be returning home soon. We're done for today. Takamaki-san, I'll be waiting for you to contact me," he then turned around and started reorganizing his art supplies.

"No, no, no! We are not done talking here!" Ann tried to protest again, but Yusuke was lost in his own world.

"Come on, let's get out of here," I finally decided to speak up.

"Yeah… Damnit. He got us good this time," Ryuji grumbled.

"Don't give up so easily!" Ann shouted at us.

But we ignored her and started making our way out. Ryuji opened the door to the hallway, and on the other side was Morgana.

"Huh? Is she done being a model?" he asked. It seems he finished exploring the house and was on his way back.

"...A cat?" Yusuke perked up, hearing an unexpected noise.

"You moron!" Ryuji hissed, roughly picked up Morgana, and quickly made his way out.

"Mraow!?"

Ann and I followed.

~X~

Once outside, we crossed the street and filled in Morgana on what happened.

"He's totally out of his mind!" Ann shouted. "I'm gonna have to pose nude if this keeps up!"

"How dare that Yusuke…!" Morgana said.

"The way he said it, it's not gonna be semi, but full-on nude," Ryuji said seriously.

"F-Fu- F-F-Full nudity?" Morgana stammered and was probably thinking about it if that blush was anything to go by. "Lady Ann's gonna…"

"I am not!" Ann shouted vehemently.

"All right, all right. Everyone, calm down," I said to lower everyone's emotions and they listened to me. "Look, if we play our cards right, we won't have to worry about you posing nude."

"You have a plan?" Ryuji asked.

"It's pretty simple. All we have to do is steal Madarame's heart before the exhibit ends," I said.

"But Kitagawa-kun thinks he owes him his life," Ann said, looking down at the ground. "He probably sees him as the only family he has…"

"Listen, take it from me who had a piece of shit of an old man," Ryuji said sternly. "Madarame's no different from Kamoshida. He's just usin' Yusuke, who doesn't have parents. There's no way we can ignore how horribly he's treated all his students no matter how he feels about him."

"Remember the Palace and that sculpture," I added. "It's clear what will happen to Yusuke once he stops being useful to Madarame. Yusuke himself even knows this. He mentioned there would be 'inconveniences' if he didn't show new art."

"You're right, we can't leave this alone," Ann nodded.

"Then we're goin' after this guy," Ryuji said. "Madarame's the kind of target we've been waitin' for. We can help Yusuke come to his senses too."

"We still need to research Madarame some more," Morgana said. "It should be easier to do that and infiltrate his Palace with his attention focused on his exhibit."

"Also, there's the thing about me modeling. That thing about the 'inconveniences'," Ann thought. "It sounds like Madarame is going to announce his next work. Probably at the end of his exhibit."

"Wait, does that mean the whole country's gonna see you nude!?" Ryuji said in shock.

"Heh," I couldn't help but chuckle at the way Ryuji said that.

"No way! Hell no!" Ann denied.

"Don't worry, it won't come to that," I assured.

"We must deal with Madarame, no matter what before the exhibit ends!" Morgana exclaimed.

"Let's start after school tomorrow," Ryuji said. "Though we'll prolly have to meet up at that walkway at Shibuya Station again with Miss President stalkin' us at school."

"Sounds like a good idea," I said. "Let's get out of here."

~X~

~ Café Leblanc - Evening ~

Tonight I was helping out Sojiro at the Café when he realized something.

"Aw shoot. I didn't notice we got so low on curry ingredients," Sojiro shook his head. "Hey, could you watch the place while I go get some?"

"Sure thing, Boss," I nodded.

"Thanks." he nodded and left.

Literally, a minute later, Futaba walked through the door.

"Sojiro! I'm- Huh? Where is he?" Futaba took a seat at the counter.

"He just left a minute ago. We're low on curry supplies," I informed her.

"Huh… Aw well," Futaba shrugged and dug into the curry I placed in front of her. "Ooh, your curry's too good."

"You have good timing," I activated a Berkano rune. "I wanted to ask you about the list of Madarame's students."

"You sure it's a good idea to talk while the shop's still open?" Futaba asked cautiously. "Last time, I didn't think much of it since it was close to closing."

In response, I held up my hand to show the rune glowing in the air above my palm.

"Berkano rune. I set it up in a way that it creates a sound bubble around us. Sound can still come in, but no sound gets out," I explained.

"Huh, nice," Futaba complimented. "Hey, do you think you could teach me this? Maybe now I can make my Skyrim build IRL."

"I can think of better magic builds to copy than ones from Skyrim," I raised an eyebrow.

"Psh, I don't mean a game build. I mean one I made that's more lore accurate," Futaba waved her hand. I knew she was mostly joking about this.

"I can't teach you magic from a system I know nothing about," I said. I paused here for dramatic effect. "At least, not yet."

Futaba blinked. "Wait, you mean that you could teach me Skyrim magic? I was joking about that."

"Eventually," I shrugged. I'd need to learn Kaleidoscope first or I might unlock something through the System later down the road.

"Huh…" Futaba's eyes glazed over. Probably thinking about all the possibilities of Elder Scrolls magic.

"Can we get back on the original topic?" I said.

"Huh?" she snapped out of her trance. "Wazzat?"

"Madarame's students?" I facepalmed at her forgetfulness.

"Oh, right. So, I managed to find info about most people on the list. I'll send you a file later, but here's the cliff notes," Futaba took some bites of curry before continuing. "There were a lot of accusations against Madarame; most of them were about plagiarism. But there were also allegations of mental and emotional abuse, neglecting their health and living standards, and defamation when his students tried to strike it out on their own.

None of it is actually provable, but you know what they say, 'Where there's smoke, there's fire'." here she frowned severely. "Especially if that smoke is when one of those students committed suicide…"

I hid a wince. Suicide is a touchy subject for Futaba, for obvious reasons.

"And Madarame is the reason for that suicide?" I had to ask.

"He was a large part of it… You'll see it in the files," she was silent for a bit before she spoke again. "Hey, when should I meet my future teammates?" she changed the subject.

"Are you okay with doing it tomorrow?" I asked.

"Probably… but why that soon?" Futaba tilted her head.

"We plan on infiltrating the Palace tomorrow. I'd like to have your help. Also, you need to start gaining experience," I explained.

"I can be there… As long as you're there."

"That's a given."

"Then I'll go," Futaba nodded.

"Great. I'll pick you up at your house with the rest of the team," I smiled. "We can do introductions then."

With that out of the way, Futaba and I moved on to more important topics of discussion. Like discussing which Soulsborne game is the best.

Bloodborne, obviously.

~X~

Social Links:

? - -̴̢̾̅̚͜͝ͅ-̶̨̙͉̗̈̈́͐͝͝-̴̖͎̯̦̝͔̔͠-̵̡̈͋̓̓͒̕͝ (Phantom Thieves of Hearts) - Rank 1

0 - F̵͎̓ơ̷̥o̴̥̐l̸̫̍ (Igor) – Rank 3

I - Magician (Morgana) – Rank 2

V - Hierophant (Sojiro Sakura) – Rank 3

VI - Lovers (Ann Takamaki) – Rank 2

VII - Chariot (Ryuji Sakamoto) – Rank 5

IX - Hermit (Futaba Sakura) - Rank 1

XIII - Death (Rei Emiya) - Rank 2

XIV - Temperance (Artoria Pendragon) - Rank 2

XVII - Star (Issei Hyoudou) - Rank 3

XX - Judgement (Takayuki Yagami) - Rank 1

~X~

Author's Note:

That's chapter 16 finished. This was mostly a set-up chapter. Set-up for Madarame's Palace, Futaba's introduction to the Phantom Thieves, and later on, the portal business.

Writing this chapter made me realize I enjoy writing action as opposed to set-up and dialogue-heavy stuff.

Also, Futaba is a lot of fun to write.

As always, constructive criticism is appreciated.

(Preview)

"Geez, there are more of 'em! How many students did he have?"

(x)

"Woah! What is that!?"

"Treasure Demon! Catch it, catch it, CATCH IT!"

"Is Joker always like this?"

"No, it's usually Mona."

(x)

"By the way, have you… gained some weight?"

(x)

"Pretty interesting school you go to Issei."

"It's one of the best schools in the area. I really wanted to come here of high school."

"And I'm sure the fact that it went co-ed this year had nothing to do with that decision."

"Ahaha…"

"Heh. Well, at least- Huh?"

"What's up?"

"I don't know. It felt like someone was watching me…"

"Huh… I don't see anything… Maybe it was just your imagination?"

"Maybe…"