It's been 2 months and I am so sorry,,, I legit had to hold myself at gunpoint to finish writing this… As such, sorry if this chapter is hot garbage,,, At least it's 21k?

As made obvious by the chapter's title, this bonus chapter is about the Phantom Thieves and is through Yuuki's P.O.V.!

I originally intended this chapter to bounce around who's P.O.V. (among the PT) it was depending on the day or event, but decided that was just too much P.O.V. switching. )X

This chapter is to show you how the PT formed without Akira, who the leader role went to, and where Yuuki and Shiho fit into all this.

I know some of ya'll really liked the mystery and suspense of knowing jack-shit about how the PT were doing/operating and that this chapter breaks that illusion…

But!

This will be the only PT bonus chapter where it'll be action/plot heavy. I just want to establish the basics with you guys. And remember, Akira doesn't know any of these fine details. ;) Any other bonus chapter with these guys will only be for the big funny. :0)

Oh, one last thing! I don't think I mentioned this, but my update schedule is going to be bouncing back-and-forth between updating this story and my Voltron story. I'll try to give myself two weeks to write a chapter, but it's pretty evident that I suck at time management.

Sorry. I'm trying not to procrastinate. I literally bought a book on how to stop,,,

4/11/2016 Monday

Today the transfer student comes in.

At his first discretion he barely even notices him. Too busy with other thoughts conveying in his mind and pulling him thin every which way.

He's sick of feeling worried and weary. But those seem to be the only things he can feel lately.

Maybe beside feeling scared as per usual.

Ms. Kawakami seems to whisper to the teen where to sit, seeing as he had arrived early. Yuuki honestly barely could tell this was a new student. He looked as generic as everyone else in this school.

Oh well. He glances at him one last time out of the corner of his eye. With his curiosity satiated, he goes back to blankly staring at his desk.

Takamaki walks in just as the bell rings, which Yuuki found weird. While everyone had switched classes recently, he was also in the same class as her previously as well. She always seemed to get there early. He only noticed such a pattern because she stood out so much. Unlike everyone else.

One might argue that in this new class he stands out the second most, with his blue hair and refusal to wear his blazer and spenders up. But he's so meek and mousy, he'll no doubt fall out of the eye of others.

Ms. Kawakami nods at Takamaki when she walks in, not marking her as tardy as she has a 5 minutes after the bell rule as counting towards such.

Class begins and his teacher gestures for the transfer student to get up and move to the front of the class. The student complies and his posture was surprisingly straight and good. Unlike his own.

He's not sure why that detail caught on with him. Maybe because you can tell a lot from a person from the way they carry themselves? In that case Yuuki isn't up for messing with him then. Not that he was planning on it in the first place. Yuuki was painfully aware about his criminal record. (Everyone was.) He had been the one to leak the other boy's information a week prior onto the school's help forums.

Kamoshida ordered him to carry out the task. He was the only tech savvy enough person on the volleyball team that could do it. Yuuki regretted ever mentioning his nak for computers and coding when Kamoshida took over after the last P.E. coach.

He wasn't certain why he was ordered to do so, but he assumed maybe he knew him and wanted to make his life Hell too. Or perhaps the adult saw an opportunity to have leverage on another teen to integrate him into his pool of punching bags.

Deplorable piece of human garbage.

"Settle down." Ms. Kawakami attempts to settle the class. They had already started whispering as soon as the new kid stood up. That's a little shameless of them, isn't it? He's right there, he's bound to be able to hear them. "...Well, I'd like to introduce a transfer student: Kurusu Akira." She gestures to the taller teen. "All right, please say something to the class." She nods her head to signify he could speak.

Out comes a simple, "Nice to meet you." And he pushes up his glasses.

"He seems quiet…but I bet when he loses it…" A prim short haired girl in front of him whispers. Yuuki isn't sure who she's talking to until the brown haired boy to his left whispers something back.

"I mean, he was arrested for assault, right…?"

They must be friends then.

Ms. Kawakami must have heard the exchange, seeing as they were in the front of the classroom. "...Uhh, so…" She pauses, looking around the classroom like she lost something. "Your seat is over there, as I already told you earlier…" She mutters the latter half under her breath, but he still can make it out. (Yuuki had his suspicions that's where one of the boys in his team was supposed to be, but Kamoshida had made sure the boy left this school for another one a few weeks prior.) "Sorry, but can the people nearby please share your textbooks with him today?"

"This sucks…" The guy to his left complaints. He's whining like he has to sit near him.

Yuuki thinks he's being a tad dramatic.

Two girls in the row next to where the new guy sits start to whisper about something he can't hear. But when he checks over his shoulder to see who the offenders were, he only gathers that they're both brunettes. He doesn't recall the short haired girl's name, but the longed haired one was Yamamoto.

Rude.

He doesn't need to hear them to know they were gossiping. Hardly anybody was nice in this stupid school.

"Oh, right!" The teacher snaps her fingers. "The volleyball rally's in two days… Everyone's just changed classes, so make sure you use that time to get to know each other." She shifts to stand behind her desk. "Well then, let's get class started. Who's on duty today?"

It's him. "Everyone, please rise…"

4/13/2016 Wednesday

"Hello there."

Yuuki whips around at the sound of an unfamiliar voice so close to him. To his surprise, it's the transfer student, Kurusu. His first thought is- He found out I leaked his record and now he's here to beat me. Oh God. I guess this is what I get…

"Uh, hi." He swallows hard and subconsciously bites his lip. "You're the transfer student, right? Kurusu-san?" Play it cool, this might be a coincidence. Maybe he just wants notes from before to catch up?

The boy nods, expressionlessly. It makes Yuuki nervous. "I just wanted to ask if you were okay. That teacher had muscle. The ball must've hurt."

Yuuki deflates. He's talking about the rally… A humorless chuckle escapes his lips as he thinks of the irony in having the volleyball team perform in a school rally. Sure, they're supposed to lift school spirit. "I'm-I'm fine. The nurse gave me an ice pack."

He notices the taller kid narrow his eyes at him. "If you say so."

He isn't sure what this guy's angle was, so he chooses a gray area of nodding. His eyes can't help but glance around to look for an escape route when-"Sorry, I don't think I got your name during class. What was it again?"

Huh? Wait. Is he seriously asking for his name?

Despite being caught off guard by the question, he stumbles out the answer. What came out next from the boy, really, really caught him off guard.

"Yuuki." A hmpth. "That's a cute name."

He's mortified by the complement and his brain is screaming. His face feels significantly hotter than before and the boy saves face by quickly excusing himself from the conversion and making a break for it.

When he feels he's a safe distance away he checks his pulse to make sure he's still alive.

Yup, he still processes a heartbeat.

He also has the beginning of a forming headache. In hindsight he shouldn't have ran tail between his legs after just having a ball chucked right at him, but hindsight is 20/20 and it was his fault for not dodging after all.

The last coach had actually tried to help him improve with his lack of skill; he joined the team because he wanted to learn. Maybe then, if he was into some type of sport he would get more friends.

A short lived fantasy, really.

Kamoshida just wanted to shift people's already existing skills, which Yuuki lacked. Is it any wonder why Kamoshida likes picking on him?

Yuuki is scrambling to leave the school campus before Kamoshida can catch him slacking off on practice. It's not like we even practice most of the time anyway. He reasons.

A voice from behind startles him. For a moment he's frightened somebody from the team was going to rat him out. Then he realizes it's not a familiar voice. Well, not really anyway.

"Hey, Mishima-kun."

When he turns around he's attempting to will his heart to go back to a more steady rate of beats. Of course, his heart is an organ and won't listen to him. "Oh, uh. Kurusu-san. Do you need something?" His smile feels weak and awkward and he hopes this conversion will go by fast. Who knows how much time he has left before his window of opportunity closes up on him.

It's been happening so often as of late that he wouldn't be surprised if it's ripped away from him again.

The other boy shakes for no, starting his sentence with a, "Nah, just curious."

You could've asked someone else for school questions! His mind angrily spits out; jumping to conclusions about the nature of this interaction and the indignation of having his precious time ripped from him. (It doesn't occur to him that he could've just ignored him and walked away.)

"Aren't you part of the volleyball team? I thought they had practice after school."

Oh. Yuuki's blood doesn't feel as warm as it did a few seconds earlier. Now the bluenette is more unsure of what to do or how to feel. His gaze falls out of habit and he lets out a weak excuse. "I…don't feel so good. I'm skipping practice."

There's a few moments of silence which kills Yuuki inside.

"Okay, don't push yourself." The suggestion is soft and quiet. (This boy always seems to speak like this, but this line particularly.) It has Yuuki daring to look back up. "Wanna go grab a bite with me?"

"Eh!?" Wait what.

"I'll pay. I think there's a fast food place nearby…"

The outing? Is that what it was? Lasted over an hour somehow, and Yuuki left it feeling very, very, confused.

Kurusu is a weird guy and Yuuki doesn't understand.

Doesn't understand why he asked if he was okay. Why he invited him to eat and paid for it. Why he was being so nice.

Was he trying to befriend him?

How odd and so left field.

Yuuki goes home not sure how to feel. Because regardless of what that boy's intentions were, (either he was just being sweet and looking for some loser or was actually trying to gain a friend at school) Yuuki has already hurt him before they even met.

And Kurusu may never know.

Yuuki falls asleep tired, and aching in more ways than one.

4/14/2016 Thursday

Yuuki has been and probably always will be an awkward sort of kid. He knows it. His parents know it. Everyone knows it.

Needless to say he doesn't know how to approach Kurusu the next day. He can't help but throw glances his way and honestly he hopes the teen didn't notice.

Luckily the other boy seems lost in his own head and doesn't seem interested in bothering Yuuki today.

The boy is glad for it. Feels like he dodged a bullet there.

4/15/2016 Friday

He can't help but notice that the transfer student is suddenly and abruptly absent. His stomach curls in and he doesn't know why. He barely just met the guy. He barely knows him.

Heck, he knows more of him.

There's no practice after school today and Yuuki is eager to take advantage of such. At the last class of the day he packs his things to go. He wants to get home and relax. Maybe watch some Kamen Rider Den-O on his laptop. He's already watched the whole thing, but he hasn't watched the movie yet. Now was his chance.

But of course things never seem to go this boy's way. And of course there's another obstacle that presents itself. This obstacle comes in the form of Sakamoto Ryuji. Previous field track star turned local delinquent.

A fall from grace most say. Yuuki knows better.

The boy is trapping him from leaving the empty classroom. (Stupid cleaning duties.) This only serves to make him feel nervous. What does he want from him? They don't really know each other well. Too well anyway…

"Hey, got a second?" The taller teen asks.

"Sakamoto-san?" He replies dumbly, unsure as to why he was being stopped again. The boy just wants to go home.

"I just wanted to know how you got injured."

Yuuki's eyes instinctively trail down to stare at the tiled floor.

"So," he continues without any tact, "I heard Kamoshida's been "coaching" you, huh?" He can see at the edge of his peripheral that the 'blond' crosses his arms at this. "You sure it's not just physical abuse?"

Yuuki backs up a step, feeling the sturdiness of a desk poke him from behind. He's shocked that Sakamoto was being so crass and straight forward with probing questions. "Certainly not!" It just came out. He can't say anything. Everyone knows and nobody cares; but if it gets out he tries to rat out Kamoshida…

The boy doesn't want to think about it as his bruises seem to throb and his wrist is set ablaze.

Sakamoto just raises an eyebrow and shakes his head. "What're you talkin' all polite for? Anyways…I saw him spike you right in the face at the rally."

He lets out a nervous laugh. A hand curls up to his chest; a gesture he did without thinking. "That was just because I'm not good at the sport…" he reasons.

"Look," His hands travel into his pockets. "I ain't gonna tell anyone you squealed. And that doesn't explain all the other bruises you've got."

"That's…" Yuuki rakes his brain for a believable lie. He hasn't really needed to tell people one before now. His parents know and they don't care. The money they received for being complicit was apparently more valuable than him.

His own fault though for being so pathetic. They must be so embarrassed of him.

"They're from practice…!" he blubbers out. Internally he cringes at how poorly his delivery sounded. Sakamoto isn't going to believe something as weak as that, right?

There's a couple moments of silence where the air is stirred. "Is he forcin' you to keep quiet?" The typically boisterous teen inquiries in a low tone.

He doesn't believe me. "It's not like that at all…"

That must not have been the right thing to say, for the 'blond' clearly turns from sympathetic to frustrated at the drop of a hat. "For real?! You're going with something as lame as that?! Are you really just gonna let that bastard Kamoshida treat Shujin like his castle?!"

The shorter boy jumps at the sudden outburst. Though he doesn't get to dwell on it long enough for any proper reaction as a weird pulse hits him. Maybe he's going crazy, but he swears the world had a tint of purple over it for a fraction of a second before a sharp pain strucks his head.

"Uuugh, my head hurts…"

Apparently he wasn't the only one.

When the feeling of lightheadedness subsides, Yuuki finally cracks open his eyes. They widened at what was before him. What the actual…? This…this isn't his school.

"What the shit!?" Seems like his trapper noticed it too.

Yuuki swallows hard. "Where are we?"

There was no time given to really process what was happening, where they were, or how they got there. It was just one event after the other.

First they left the room they were in to only find themselves in an elaborate hallway of sorts. They barely got to check out their surroundings for a minute or two before these tall armored men surrounded them. One shoved Sakamoto to the ground after the boy had demanded answers. The next thing he knew the both of them were hauled away into a cell.

Everything seemed to be made of brick, stone, wood, or metal. Chains and shackles decorated the place in an untasteful way. A metal gate was locked in front of them, showing more cells like the one they were confined in.

"Are, are you okay?" He can't help but ask, even though he was pretty shaken up himself.

Sakamoto sits on the wooden bed, rubbing the back of his head. "I'm fine. My ass just hurts from fallin'."

Yuuki nods.

"Ugh, what's goin' on!?" The boy kicks at the floor in frustration. "None of this makes a lick of sense!"

His hands curl up to his chest as he tries to think of some way to explain this. "Shared hallucination?" he suggests.

"Is that even a thing? Look, this shit's happening whether we like it or not." The boy springs up and marches to the gate. He bangs on it all the while shouting out commands. "Hey, let us outta here! I know there's someone out there!"

Of course, there's no reply.

"Dammit, where are we!? Is this some kinda TV set…?" Sakamoto complains while pacing back to where Yuuki was standing.

There's yelling coming from further down the hall that stops the both of them in their tracks. They run to the gate. Yuuki can feel his heart pounding in his ears by this point.

"Th-the Hell was that just now…?" Trying to peer out didn't help gather anymore infor. More yelling was heard and Sakamoto is muttering under his breath at this. "Whoa… Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa…" It sounds like a chat coming from him. "You're shittin' me, right…?"

Yuuki just feels his stomach curl and he hopes he doesn't throw up.

He looks around to see if there's anything useful at all to help get out, but it turns up empty handed. Sakamoto shushes him as the boy hears someone's footsteps near their cell.

It's the armored guards from earlier.

The one at the head speaks. His voice sounds…wrong. "Be glad that your punishment has been decided upon. Your charge is "unlawful entry". Thus, you will be sentenced to death."

"Say what!?" Sakamoto exclaims.

Yuuki doesn't say anything, he's just trying not to cry.

"No one's allowed to do as they please in my castle."

What the fuck… Is that...Kamoshida?!

The boy next to him jumps to the same conclusion as well, just as surprised as he is it would seem.

But his voice…it too sounded wrong.

Distorted...it sounds distorted.

"It'll have you killed right now." Kamoshida mocks after giving Sakamoto a beating.

The boy felt terrified and froze to his spot against the wall. He was shaking and tears were stinging his eyes. "You can't actually be thinking of killing him!" Something like that can't easily be gotten away with! Surely he must understand that?!

When Kamoshida turns his attention to him, he feels his heart stop.

"Hm…? What…? You think I'd listen to a waste of space like you? You're not even worth my time to execute, at least Sakamoto had put up a fight before. You act like a dog." And without missing a beat the man kicks him to the wall.

"Ack!" Yuuki slides down the wall like water.

"Hold him there… After the peasant, do whatever you want with him."

Yuuki's mind is racing, he doesn't know what to do, what to say, what to feel. Two guards hold him against the wall and he's forced to watch more of the scene unfold in front of him.

Kamoshida steps close as Sakamoto whimpers. "No, I don't wanna die!" The man just laughs like some cheesy live action villain.

Something snaps in the bluenette. "What are you doing? Are you just going to let him kill you?! Fight back, Sakamoto!"

"Wha…?" Sakamoto dumbly replies, looking at him like he was crazy.

Kamoshida however, doesn't take kindly to Yuuki's words. "What did you say, Brat?" He snaps when he turns his attention back to him. He slaps him across the face. "After I decided to not kill you, you still won't shut up?!" A punch to the gut this time. It winds him. "Ungrateful piece of shit!" A punch to the face.

Yuuki can feel another bruise forming.

The man appears to be going for another blow, but the noises behind him make him turn around. Both of them stare in confusion as Sakamoto seems to writhe in pain even though the guard was only holding him up against the wall. He screams and groans, sweat pours down his face and he just…stops.

Kamoshida scoffs at the display. "What was that? Are you having a seizure?" He trots over, probably to taunt him more when a gust of wind blows out into the room. Kamoshida stumbles, almost losing his balance.

Sakamoto slowly looks up with a mask that glints of metal.

"Eh!?" Yuuki fell to his knees when the guards exploded into little pumpkin men. There he remained as some ghost-skeleton-thing on a ship destroyed them. A lead pipe gripped tightly in the masked boy's hand was also swung around.

Yuuki was speechless among other things. Probably brain dead. Too much had happened at once and his brain was 'bout ready to skip strike and just abandon ship.

Kamoshida spat out some insult, but Sakamoto just shoulder rams him to the floor, weird coat and all. "Aagh!"

"Ha! You like that, you son of a bitch?"

"The key!" Yuuki scrambles to get back on his feet and drives for the lock of keys, but Sakamoto picks it up before him.

"You mean this?" The both of them run out and the 'blond' locks the man up in the cell.

The blue haired boy laughs nervously at the situation. "What even was that!? And why are you wearing bullets?"

"Donno man. But we gotta get out-" He is rudely cut off by his clothes proofing back to his normal attire.

"Ekkk!" He may not understand what the fresh Hell was going on, but he wasn't expecting that to happen.

Crash!

"You bastards!" Kamoshida growls at them, thrashing at the bars of the cell.

"God," he sounds breathless, "this's effin' nuts!" He turns towards him. "Anyway, let's scram!" And with that he throws the costume sized keys into the out-of-place rushing river in the center of the hall.

"Goddamn thieves…! After them! Don't let them escape!"

The two of them manage to maneuver their way around the guards to avoid being recaptured. After some running around, hiding, and hole in the wall crawling, they came to an area with more river! And suspended cages with people in them? Oh shit.

"We really did hear people screamin'... So we ain't the only ones who got captured!"

"Do you think they're alright?"

Sakamoto looked apprehensive. "Donno. They don't look okay…"

Yuuki couldn't keep his eyes off of them for long. Not that it mattered. Soon a dead end greeted them, much to Sakamoto's frustration.

He was about to suggest something when a child's voice rang through, frightening him.

"Blondie! Short stack! Look over here!"

His neck hurt from how quickly he turned to look. Upon seeing the owner of the voice, he backs off a few steps.

Sakamoto on the other hand, decides to get closer. "What is this thing!?"

"You're not soldiers of this castle, right!? Get me out of here! Look, the key's right there!" The cat-monster-thing pleads. Yuuki looks around for said key, but the other boy isn't convinced by the thing.

"We're trying to get the Hell out of here…! I mean, you obviously look like an enemy too!"

"I'm locked up here so how can I be your enemy!? Help me out!"

"What are you?" Yuuki pipes up. He can't hold in that question any longer.

"I'll tell you if you get me out first!" There's no time for a rebuttal as the sound of footsteps gets too close to home.

"They're catching' up already…!" He takes out his phone. "Shit, there's still no service. Ain't there anyway to contact someone outside!?" Yuuki does the same and finds his phone yields the same results. "How the Hell do we get out…!?" The boy contemplates.

"Hey, you two!" The cat thing waves around it's little paw. "Want to know where the exit is? Let me out and I'll take you there. You don't want to get caught and executed, right?"

The shorter boy looks the other in the eyes. "It couldn't hurt, right?"

He deflates. "Yes."

"I'm not gonna hurt you! I barely go up to your shin!"

"He has a point."

"Ugh." Sakamoto groans. Though the footsteps get nearer and both can feel the urgency of the situation. He leans in towards the bars. "Are you seriously not messin' with us!?"

It seems to get mad at this. "If you don't hurry, they'll catch you."

The panic was settling in once more, so he smacks Sakamoto in the shoulder and gives him a look that demands he hurry up.

"F-fine."

Yuuki felt like a sitting duck, with him standing behind both Sakamoto and the cat monster-um, not a cat, eh-Morgana. The fact Sakamoto's weird costume kept fading in and out of existence only served to create a weird air about the place and the situation as a whole. It does take longer than he would've liked to get out, but eventually they make it to the sunlight of day. That was after the fact of crawling through a ventilation shaft. He had always wondered how that worked and actually doing it was…something else, that was for sure.

Being out also meant parting ways with Morgana, which he was totally fine with.

"Did we make it…?" The boy's phone answers his question for him.

"You have returned to the real world. Welcome back." A soft female voice fillers through it.

Sakamoto scrambles to fish his cellular device out of his pocket. "Huh? Returned?" Yuuki can't help his curiosity and leans over to see the screen, whatever it was on closes itself the moment he gets a good enough look. "What the Hell…?" The taller boy mutters.

"No idea." Looking around told him he was outside of the school, near the front gate actually. "How are we…"

"Oh shit!" Yuuki jumps. "It's been 4 hours! I need to go catch the train!"

"Wait, what?!" He checks his own phone, so see that they have in fact been gone for 4 hours. It had felt like two hours at most, but certainly not anyway near 4. Oh crap my parents… Won't care. Not unless he gets back after they go to bed, before then, they won't give a shit.

The two of them decide to swap chat IDs before booking it to the train station.

When he gets home he's texting furiously on his phone about what the Hell happened to Sakamoto instead of watching stuff on his laptop like he had anticipated.

Since when did he get isekaied into an anime!? He pretty damn sure he hasn't been hit by 'Truck-kun'.

He falls asleep exhausted.

4/16/2016 Saturday

Yuuki spends his weekday standing in front of his high school instead of doing, well you know, normal stuff. Like sleeping in, moping around, chores maybe. Mostly spending his time on his butt going on his laptop.

Instead he was in front of the school with Sakamoto, obviously to further investigate what the Hell went on yesterday. Honest though? He doesn't really want to be there, but the guy was adamant in his text yesterday, so here he was.

He wants to go home and sleep. Everything still hurts and he knows going back inside guarantees more hurt.

It's like that even when it's not a castle.

"So I like I told ya, this weird app, the one that told us we were back in the real world yesterday; it appeared on my phone and I can't delete it. I'm pretty sure it's connected with this weird bullshit." The boy gestures towards the school. "Watch." he instructs.

At the tap of his finger the world turns to a tint purple again. There's no way to put it other than everything just…morphed. Sakamoto's phone seems to glitch out with a weird eyeball symbol that he was rather unfamiliar with. In front of him is the nearly psychedelic colored castle. "This is all so weird…"

"Yeah but—oh what?" Sakamoto looks down at his attire, realizing he was daunting the garbs from yesterday.

Now that Yuuki has a better look at what he's wearing, he notices that weird metal structure on his back. He really wants to point it out, maybe ask Sakamoto how he's moving with that thing on him. Alas that does not come to fruition as that child-like voice from yesterday calls out to them.

It's Morgana.

His head spins with all the infor dumping Morgana was doing to the both of them. It's a hoot (not) going through the motions of the castle. And it's not like he was doing much but following and occasionally putting in some shots in the background.

Sakamoto had brought a gun replica for him to use, but apparently he can actually use it as a gun-gun in this world? This is literally an anime, there's a talking cat and everything. Well, cursed human turned cat?

It was a tkachev look alike and good on that because these babies have little to no recoil to them. The fact that this was a small hand-held only lent more credence to it being easier to use for him.

They scurry around like rats. Avoiding guards, fighting guards, so many bridges… At least when they finally get to the root of Sakamoto's motives to come back here, Morgana just kinda…laughs in his face. "How stupid can you be…?"

"What!?"

"These are only humans in Kamoshida's cognition. They aren't real humans that have entered from reality. They're different from you two."

"Cognition…?"

Oh, great to know this was all for nothing. Yuuki can't help but be annoyed by this point. He could be just planting his head in the sand, but instead he's being dragged by the neck to drink water.

He doesn't like it, but he's also not going to do anything about it.

"It means there's no point in saving them! They're different from the real ones in the real world. You could say that these are extremely similar-looking dolls."

They ended up having another run in with Kamoshida, which at that point had their asses handed to them. Even with the help of Morgana's persona. Zorro or whatever.

The following conversion not only validated what Yuuki knew about what Kamoshida did to the track team, but added even more context to it. He broke Sakamoto's leg because the other coach had a disagreement? It was for no good reason… He knew the man was a shit person, but how psychopathic must you be to do that to an innocent third party?!

Sakamoto is edged on by this, as he somehow finds the strength to get back up and demolish the shadows with Captain Kidd. It's a spectacle to be honest.

Then they run. And run.

Stopping to catch their breath feels like a godsent. He does take a moment to find humor in Morgana face planting as Sakamoto swears up a storm.

Seeing that fake of Takamaki was really creepy. He's heard the rumors about her, but shit. He's not sure what to think after that.

When Morgana gets back up he tries to rope the two of them to help him with getting his real form back and something about Mementos.

Whatever that is.

"We didn't agree to anything like that!"

The other boy ain't having it, but Yuuki thinks it's a fair trade. After all he's done to help them…

"For real? Mishima, you can't be serious?!"

"Why not?! He's been helping us for the last two days! It only feels fair!"

"Yeah! You should listen to him, Blondie!"

"Nah, we're good. Thanks for all the help, Cat!"

"I am not a-"

Unfortunately the little guy doesn't get to finish his complaint as Sakamoto uses that navi app to get them out.

"That wasn't very nice of you…"

"Man, trust me. He would've led us down a rabbit hole if we agreed to help him."

He raises a brow. "How can you be so sure?"

The teen shrugs. "I just am."

4/19/2016 Tuesday

It had been agreed upon to skip a day from the castle stuff on Sunday. Take a break and all. Don't want to waste the weekend on something they hardly understand yet.

Monday however, something found them. It came in the form of a black kitty cat. A kitty that could talk at that. All this stuff just kept getting weirder and weirder. Seriously, when did he fall into an anime?

After some words had been exchanged, Sakamoto agreed to help Morgana with his problem.

There was also the issue of Kurusu. The teen was still absent despite the weekend having passed them by already. The whispers and rumors about what had befallen the transfer student was spreading like wildfire. Again, the students at his school aren't very nice.

Though as mean as it might come off, Yuuki wasn't really thinking too deep of it. He had more pressing matters to ponder about.

Besides, today the boy is back in class and Yuuki manages to catch him by the ends of his coattails when he's trying to leave school. "Hey…" Awkward as ever.

"Hey." Is repeated right back at him.

"Sorry," He starts, not sure what else to begin with. "I just wanted to know why you were absent for two days. Are you not feeling well?" Is it him or does Kurusu look a little sickly? "You look a little pale."

The boy stares at him. "Uh…" Tumbles through his lips. "Yeah," he rolls his shoulders, "I'm fine. I just felt a little under the weather, is all."

"Oh! Are you getting sick?" And he reaches out to feel the other's forehead before recoiling. Whoa, why did I do that!? That's too familiar of a gesture! The boy feels his face burn in slight embarrassment for the thoughtless act.

Kurusu appears blissfully ignorant of the shorter boy's internal dilemma. "I hope not." His eyes shift side to side and Yuuki wonders what the boy was looking for. "Wanna walk with me?"

The invitation is nice, and if last time was anything to go off on, it was safe too.

Unfortunately his schedule was already booked today for something else. Pity. He hopes the other will bug him sometime soon, last time was...nice. If not hella awkward. Kinda. "Sorry, but I gotta do something after school. Thank you though."

Without missing a beat-"Are you sure? Can't you just skip it?"

And dejectedly he has to shake his head for no.

There's a sigh. "Okay, I'll see you tomorrow then." A little wave.

He waves back. "Uh, yeah. Bye. See ya!" And Yuuki rip the grass leaving. Maybe that was a bit too fast, but there was some palace jazz to deal with. Hopefully he can awaken his persona soon, and hopefully his outfit won't be as bad as Sakamoto. Like, full offense, but his whole get up was ugly down to the yellow biker glove. Ew.

"You ready?"

"No… Not really."

"Well too bad. You're here already." With that the navi app morphs their surroundings and Yuuki sighs. He was just about to check up on his fake tkachev when he heard a very loud gasp.

The boy's heads whipped in the diction of the sound, only to see two people standing there. Morgana and Takamaki. Oh no.

"What is this!?" Comically, she turns her gaze to Morgana and squeals in surprise or shock. "Eek!"

Fair enough. He is a bit jarring to the eyes at first.

"T-takamaki!?" Sakamoto blubbers.

Yuuki decides to stand back and watch the whole exchange.

"That voice…Sakamoto!? And...Mishima-kun!?"

"Wh-why-why are you here!?"

His brow furrows at the amount that Sakamoto was stuttering. Why was this considered surprising? None of this complicated nonsense made sense in the first place. Why was this situation any different?

She seemed mad. "How should I know!? What's even going on here…!? What happened to the cat?" She points to Morgana who smiles sheepishly at her. "Isn't this the school?"

Morgana shakes the goofy look off his face and gets down to business. "I see. Perhaps she was dragged in because of that app thing. If multiple people can enter with the person who uses it, it stands to reason it'll pull anyone nearby."

"For real…?"

"Sorry but, were you following us?" Eyes turn to look at him. "I mean, if you got pulled in with us, that means you had to be close. Not one else is here." It sounds like good solid reasoning to him, but who knows.

"I…" Her sentence trails off. "I found a cat this morning. Some kids were trying to tie bags to its feet so I took him with me. I hid him in my desk today and was actually about to release him out of my bag when I noticed Sakamoto, so I followed you guys here." She was still giving Morgana a perplexed look. Still probably mortified that, that was in her bag earlier.

Yuuki was amazed that she had A) managed to shove a whole ass cat into her desk and B) got away with said cat shoving. Seriously this school was something else…

Literally.

"Why were you following me?!"

"Because!" She stresses out like it was the most goddamn obvious thing in the world. (Maybe it was.) "Shiho-kun told me you shook her down for information a few days ago, and quite frankly I don't appreciate it. First you stick your nose where it doesn't belong, now you're harassing my friend?!"

"I wasn't harassing her! I just asked questions!" The 'blond' defended himself.

Now this was kinda turning into a shouting match.

Morgana notices this too as he attempts to calm the two of them down. "Hey, hey, now, the shadows are going to find us if you make a scene."

Takamaki continues to demand answers to what the heck was going on, unfortunately for her, the other two decided it was best to remove her and get on with their mission.

Yuuki felt a bit icky doing it, but Sakamoto does have a point. They can't deal with Kamoshida if she's here.

"The shadows have noticed us. You better brace yourselves, got it?"

They both nod.

Morgana smiles rather adorably. "Remember to be on the lookout. We're counting on you, Moon!"

Yuuki blinks.

"Moon? That a nickname?" Sakamoto frowns.

"Don't refer to it in such a lame way. It's a code name." He shakes his head. "What kinda of stupid phantom thief would use their real name!? I'm not down for that! And there's no telling what kind of effect yelling our real names will have on the palace… It's just a precaution."

The teen rubs the back of his head. "So, uh, why's he Moon?"

"Because he hangs in the back and offers support. The Moon gets outshined by the Sun, but we still need it."

"Oh, uh, thanks?" Was that a compliment? He's not quite sure to be honest.

"Don't mention it! As for you, Ryuji… You'll be… Let's see…" His little paw smacks his chin as the gears in his brain turn. "Thug."

Yuuki chokes back some laughter and Sakamoto leans in for the kill.

"Are you pickin' a fight with me!? Agh! I'll choose it myself!" He visibly simmers down and straightens up. "Hm… When it comes to me, it's gotta be this mask. Honestly, I actually kinda like it. What if we named me after this?"

Little kitty boy sighs in defeat. "Fine… Why not 'Skull' then?"

A fist pump to the open air, Yuuki takes a step back in surprise. "Ooh! That sounds awesome! I'm Skull!"

They decide to call Morgana, Mona. Their tiny companion has no objections so they head back into the castle for another fun-filled day.

Yay…

So shadow can drop money apparently. That's a thing. Nevermind, I'm not in an anime, I'm in a RPG. He really needs to stop wondering if this stuff can get any weirder… It seems to be listening to him. He's not trying to offer it a challenge. Honest.

Moon leans against an elaborately etched door while Morga-eh, Mona and Skull have some back and forth with each other.

"Still, why was the princess in such an odd place…?"

"Eek!" Moon jumps back at the deep voice from the other side. It too draws the attention of the others.

"Princess…?" The 'blond' mutters.

Mona cups his ear against the door.

"I could have sworn we were pursuing the readings of an intruder…"

"It doesn't matter now." Another voice snaps. "We must take her back to King Kamoshida!"

"Who's this princess they're talkin' about…?"

Moon shrugs in lieu of an answer.

Mona opens the door and tippy taps his way through it. "I should probably look into this."

Moon lifts his arms up to shield his face from the winds that gush out from where Takamaki was being held. She screams as she no doubt is awaking her persona. The being that materializes out of the gorgeous blue flames at first looks like a furry. Then he realizes it's a neko.

Or maybe it is a furry, she does have a weird nose...and seemingly no nipples.

Get your head out of the gutter!

Man, she's barely been here and she already awoken hers, where's his?

Obviously there needs to be a drive to have yours be awakened, Skull didn't want to lay down and died, Takamaki refused to be a sexual object for Kamoshida to dispose of.

Who knows about Mona. His is probably lost to time with him not remembering his past self.

But Moon felt like he had a drive, he wanted revenge against Kamoshida. He wanted the man to fall from grace in the eyes of the public. He wanted him exposed for all the shit he's done.

So honest, where's his persona?

Moon was today years old when he learned that Takamaki was a badass. The girl kicks a sword out of one of the guard's hands and kills her cognitive double. Only to turn around and give a determined speech about kicking Kamoshida's ass.

Moon finds himself blushing by the end of it because how can you not be?!

He doesn't even need to lift a finger as the trio in front of him decimated the toilet demon that formed when all the shadow guards fused.

In the end Kamoshida hightails it out of there after his shadow shield was defeated.

All talk and no bite in this world, huh? Unfortunately the same cannot be said about his real life counterpart.

The camaraderie of defeating the thing was short lived however, like most good things in life.

"Why'd you come here, Man!? And more importantly, how!?"

Moon smacked Skull on the arms. "Where are your manners!?" He quipped at the same time Mona snapped something back as well.

"Hey is that how you speak to a woman!?"

Sakamoto offers Takamaki a drink, giving Yuuki the one she didn't pick.

This is too much for a Tuesday… He thinks bitterly as he downs the free soda. It's the lemon type, so he doesn't mind the flavor at all. People who don't like lemon are crazy.

Discussion of what happened and what was going on bounced from person to person. When Takamaki feels she has the ropes of what was going on, she poses a question. "This change of heart thing. Can it really work? If what you said was true…"

"Of course it will, Lady Ann! Ryuji has a point, the students won't come forward and the adults are turning the other cheek. The best way to get back at him is to get to his treasure."

"Huh…" she ponders. "Well, I can't say he hasn't done something to me… Maybe even something to Shiho. I want to join your guy's little troupe."

"Sounds like a good idea." Yuuki finally decides to stick his arm into the conversation.

She gives him a small smile. "Thank you."

"I second that!"

She looks at Sakamoto. "Well? What about you?"

"I don't know…"

"Excuse me? Didn't you see what I did?! I can help. I have the same powers as you!"

Yuuki frowns. She chose to say 'you' opposed to saying 'you guys'. It's because he's running around without a mask, huh? Just you wait…

"Well, it's just that…"

"You realize she has the app now and can go anytime she wants?" Which is weird, because he doesn't have it on his phone yet.

Maybe after he awakens his persona.

Sakamoto stares at him for all of 5 seconds and sighs. "Yeah, okay. Only because it's dangerous if she goes there by herself."

Takamaki cheers. "Great! We can take down this slimeball together. Well, I hope we can get along." Her face turns grim and her next few lines leaves him feeling intimidated of her. "I'm going to make Kamoshida atone for what he did. Not just for my own sake, but for everything he's done. I won't let anymore people suffer because of him."

She means business alright.

"Just let me know when you're heading back in…" Her demeanor takes another 180 as she pulls out her phone. "Oh wait! We don't have each other's infor. Hey, give me your number and chat ID. And um…" She pulls out her pink phone.

They follow suit and exchange infor.

"I'll be counting on you, then."

Yuuki isn't sure who she's talking to.

"Same goes for you, Morgana."

Ah, she was referring to the boys, then.

"The pleasure is all mine, Lady Ann." Taking this opportunity to go off topic, Morgana brings up an issue that needs to be sorted out right away. "Though I must mention…"

"Hmm?" The tallest noises.

"I can't contact you all from inside a palace, so I'll have to stay in this world. That being said, I'll need someone to take care of me." The little guy looks around hopefully at the teens.

He's the first to speak up considering the not-cat was on his shoulders right now. "Oh, I'm sorry Morgana. I can't take you. My uncle's allergic and likes to visit for weeks at a time. Not to mention the guest's bedroom is right next to mine… My parents will flip if they see I brought a cat home." But they don't care how I come home looking… Though that truth wasn't privy to the conversation.

His ears folds downwards for a second but nods in understanding. "That's fine." He turns towards the blond(e)s. "How about you two?"

Sakamoto sheepishly rubs the back of his head. "Uh, I gotta pass too. Me and my mom live in a small apartment. There's no room for you. Besides, no pet policy, besides like, fish n' turles and shit."

"Lady Ann?" He sounds defeated.

She looks around nervously. "Well…my house is kinda big...and nobody is allergic…" Her eyes pass over the boys before landing on Morgana. She sighs good naturedly. "Okay, you can come live with me." There's a cheer. "But," she holds a finger out, "both my parents are fashion designers, so there's some fabric rooms you can't go into. Besides that you should be fine." She opens her bag in preparation to stuff him back inside.

"Understood, Lady Ann. You're so compassionate!" He particularly meows.

"Sheesh."

Yuuki ignores him and raises his arm out to let Morgana use it as a running start. Thankfully his little companion got the memo and does a graceful jump right into Takamaki's bag. She gasps.

Sakamoto slowly claps in mock admiration.

The blonde quickly recovers and laughs at the little display. "You gave me a heart attack."

"Apologizes." he meows back.

"Can you curl up for a second?" He does and she stuffs one hand inside to fish out…something. When she retracts, it's a lint roller she pulls out. "Here." She simply states before tossing it at Yuuki.

The boy catches it, no problem; but gives both it and her perplexed looks. "What..?"

"It's a lint roller," she spoon feeds him like he didn't already know that, "your uniform's already starting to look black from the fur. You probably should clean it off."

He blinks. "Oh, thanks, but I was going to buy one before heading home."

"Nah." She interjects, dismissively waving her hand and killing his refusal. "I have like, a ton of those. I wear legging, not stockings, so I gotta get the lint off all the time."

"Ah, thank you then."

"No problem!"

"Hey guys." They shift focus over to Sakamoto. "You know, it'd be better if this group could get together quick from now on…"

Morgana quickly shifts back into soup mode being serious. "True. Our best option would be to make a secret hideout where we could discuss these things."

"A hideout, huh…? I like the sound of that." Sakamoto grins.

"The school rooftop would work… It seems like nobody goes up there. For the time being, that will make the perfect hideout."

The teen wonders how the not-cat would know that and wonder just how much of Monday did he spend at the school in the real world.

Takamaki nods. "Well, if everyone agrees, that's a wrap-up!" She claps.

"The train will be arriving soon. Please wait behind the yellow line." The overhead voice announced. It was time to split ways.

4/20/2016 Wednesday

He gets to school early today. Typically he doesn't like to spend unnecessary amounts of time at school if he can avoid it. So getting there earlier is a no-go unless he needed to be. Today though, (as you may have guessed it) is one of those days.

Takamaki had texted to the little group chat they made that she wanted to discuss something important before school started. She was very adamant they all get their butts nice and early to school.

Thus here he was. Nice and early.

What atrocities did he commit in a past life to deserve this?

Interestingly, he does cross paths with Kurusu on the way to school. He stops to chat with the boy since yesterday was so sparse with talk. (Though he probably doesn't have time for small talk, he'll make an effort to at least say hi. There's just this cool, calming quality to Kurusu that he likes.) The boy is staring at something on his phone, typically teenage stuff. A small thing he noticed the other doing was twirling some of his bangs with his free hand.

A quirk of his it would seem.

It's not something he'll admit to, but he finds the minuscule action kinda cute.

As he nears him the boy notices him first, pocketing his phone and slurring out a greeting. Sounds like somebody didn't sleep last night. Especially judging by the bags he sees when he stands next to him for some small talk.

"Oh, good morning Kurusu-san, you…" he takes a moment to find the right words, "look terrible." Ah, fuck.

Kurusu runs a hair through his hair. "Yeah, well I got hit by a bus, so…"

"What!?"

There's a slight smirk on his face and Yuuki wants to roll his eyes. "I was joking."

"Ah."

The boy resumes his usually blank expression to riddle him a question. "You always get here this early?"

"No, not really." I'm here for a stupid-early meeting. "I'm here to meet someone actually, in fact, I think I'm running late. I'll see you in class!" He ended up getting nervous that the boy would press further and being a sweaty spaghetti sort of guy, he fumbled his way out of the conversion. Though he did not possess the grace of a video game protagonist while doing so.

He winces when he walks away as he can clearly hear the other boy audibly groan. Whether it was because the dude was tired or because he found Yuuki's retreat to be distasteful, he doesn't know. He does know that Sakamoto is an impatient man and will no doubt start to complain if Yuuki doesn't skedaddle to their meetup spot.

"So, what is it that you wanted to talk about?" Sakamoto yawns and stretches his arms. "You kept saying it was important."

"Right, about that…" Morgana pops his head out of her bag, staring at them from just over her shoulder.

Yuuki suddenly has the very reasonable urge to pet his little furry head. Though he's smart enough to know he'll probably get clawed at if he does so. If the little guy didn't take so kindly to being called a cat, he probably wouldn't react positively to being treated like one either.

"I talked about this to Mona-chan last night. We both think it's only fair if I bring Shiho-kun with us to the palace today."

"What!?"

"Huh?"

Sakamoto looked like someone just slapped him with a sandal, Yuuki on the other hand was just surprised. Their group was growing pretty quick, huh?

"You can't be for real!"

"Why not?!"

"Shhhh, guys your voices. Quiet down." He gestures for them to lower the volume.

"Sorry…" Takamaki apologies.

Sakamoto puffs and shakes his head, mumbling something to himself. "Look Man, we can't be draggin' too many people into this. It'll be harder to keep it a secret!"

"Are you implying she's going to tell someone about this!?" He opens his mouth for a rebuttal. "Why are you being such a stick in the mud?! She's not. If anything she deserves to go with us. May I remind you she's also on the volleyball team?!" Takamaki goes quiet, losing her steam. "I never believed her when she told me she got all those injuries from practice… Now it's obvious where she got them. I won't forgive him for it." Her eyes meet Yuuki's and they glint with pity.

He looks away.

"She deserves to get some revenge for it, isn't that what we're doing?"

The other blond stays silent. "What do you guys think?" He putts for their option after a beat.

"I'm with Takamaki-san on this one, it wouldn't hurt if we had one more…"

"Of course I agree," Morgana drops his two cents, "we could use the extra manpower after all. And I'm sure Lady Ann would like another girl in this group instead of being surrounded by three guys." The joke gets a chuckle out of her.

The cat beams at his success.

The rest of their time is spent by Morgana spearheading a discussion about better equipment and getting their hands on medicine. He warns them about the dangers of the palace and how they would need these two factors in order to progress further.

While Sakamoto claims he knows the perfect place to get weapons (probably the same place he got that tkachev replica), the group is a little stumped about where to get medicine. Both at a reasonable price and amounts without anybody getting suspicious.

They put off the former for a later day, it's only just the beginning after all.

Yuuki pops a lemon candy into his mouth and then pops his back as he waits with Sakamoto for Takamaki to fetch Suzui. The other boy takes a sip of his drink and stares blankly at one of the boxes straight ahead. He pulls back his sleeve to look at a watch that wasn't there (much like Patrick Star would've). "Man, what's taking her so long?"

Yuuki blinks, moving the cube candy around with his tongue. "It…hasn't even been 10 minutes yet? Just wait."

Sakamoto groans rather loudly, so Yuuki pays his due diligence and elbows him.

"Ow!" It's mock hurt. "Tryin' ta kill me?"

"Yes, now please die."

The boy laughs. "Alright, alright. I'll wait." And goes back to crossing his arms.

When Takamaki does arrive, she in fact is hauling Suzui in her wake.

The face Sakamoto makes when he notices their presence would make one think their arrival had purged all the darkness plaguing his existence.

Which is to say the boy needed a chill pill and some goddamn patience.

It makes the boy roll his eyes at him and chew the fizzy candy down to nothing. He pops another into his mouth when Takamaki waves at the two of them. "Sorry for the wait, Shiho-kun was talking to someone." she explains unprompted.

"That's fine." Yuuki waves back unenthusiastically.

Suzui remains behind her friend, her gaze shifts between the two boys. She no doubt was wondering why her bestie led her to the rooftop which is technically off-limits. (Funny, because the school doesn't even bother locking the doors.) Even if a person has good intentions, this is still a weird way to go about it. You could've gone anywhere else.

"Great, you're finally here." Takamaki gives Sakamoto a look. "Did she tell you what we are doin'?"

"No, not really. I was hoping you'd explain."

Yuuki could tell an idea formed in his head from the way his eyes glistened. "I think it'd be easier if I just showed ya." A phone was pulled out and the world morphed around them.

"Whoa! What the-!?" Suzui fumbles with her balance as she's put face to face with the almost psychedelic castle. (Moon wonders for all of one second why they were in front of the castle when they were on the rooftop in the real world. But then he gave up because none of this shit made sense, so should he even try to find reason where there clearly was none?) Takamaki catches and stabilizes her, giving her an apologetic look. Suzui is still wide eyed and open jawed. "Ah! Cat monster!" She hugs her friend when she lays eyes on Mona. She gets a perturbed look on her face when she looks back at Takamaki, only to realize that her friend was daunting a catsuit. It's humorous watching her head swivel to look around at everyone. She seems even more confused by the fact that Moon seems to lack a costume, if anything.

"Hey! I am not a cat!"

"It...talks…" The words came out shaky.

"She calls you a monster and the first thing you correct her on is calling you a cat?" Skull quips.

"Shut up! I'm not wrong!

Moon has to bite back some laughter. It's just a little funny. Just a smidge.

"Whatever Dude, wanna give her a rundown?"

"Well, if you insist."

He can't tell if Mona was being smug or sarcastic.

Suzui was being an awfully good sport about this; all things considered. But before they can go in to storm the castle, one more thing needs to be attended to.

"Hold up." Skull holds a hand out. "Code names, we almost forgot about that."

"Oh, right." Mona chimes in. He goes right back into sensei mode. "We use code names in place of our actual ones when inside of a palace. I'm not certain what effect can take place if we say our real names in someone's cognition. So we go by little codenames instead! I'm Mona, he's Moon, and he's Skull."

"Don't you have one Ann-chan?"

"Huh? Oh, no…. I just joined yesterday." She sheepishly rubs the back of her head.

Suzui's brow widened in disbelief.

As a placeholder name, they chose Sun, because apparently Mona wants to keep a theme and is actually bad at naming things.

He wonders if his code name had any real meaning behind it at all, or if Mona just though it sounds aesthetically pleasing.

Onto Takamaki's code name though.

"Judging by your costume…" Mona taps a paw to his chin, looking at the tall girl up and down.

"I mean, she's got that tail and stuff, so…" Skull puts it out in the air. "Whadda you think, Moon?" When he turns to look at him for a suggestion, Moon is surprised.

Why is he asking me?! He shrugs. "I don't know...how about, uh…" He gazes over to her, careful to avoid looking at a certain area. "How about," he repeats. "Catgirl?" Lame name, but his brain is empty for suggestions.

Catgirl blinks. "Wait! Is that what you're going to call me from now on!? I am SO not down with this!" She stomps her foot in indignation. The action is so strikingly similar to a tantrum, it surprises him.

"What do you wanna be called, then?" Skull is quick to snap back but not with his hands.

She goes to bring a hand to her chin, elbow propped on her other arm that crosses her waist. "Um, something better than just a little cat…" She looks back up. "Maybe… "Panther"? That sounds pretty cool, doesn't it?"

"Huh? Why?"

Her arms wilt. "'Cause it sounds more…ferocious?" That last part sounded like a question.

"She's a cougar…!" Mona sighs dreamily, making Skull gag. Moon just finds his closed eye smile cute.

Even if he's a monster not-cat thing, he shares the charm of a little mascot. Maybe he can be their mascot.

"Don't call me that!" The blonde whips out. There is a chuckle from her friend. "More importantly, Kamoshida…!"

And that's all that needed to be said before the air went back to action time.

Is this what it feels like to be a secret agent? Hiding behind corners and pillars alike to avoid detection and bullets? Well, he may not be hiding from gunfire, but certainly the guards and shadows.

Even the toy gun that Panther had given Sun worked. Sure, it seemed to shoot balls of energy rather than bullets, but that's probably because it looks ridiculous. It's held to different rules in their minds.

It just felt weird having to trail alongside Sun in the back. Now the both of them were support and lookout.

Though he had to admit, it's kinda obvious who's really doing the heavy lifting.

Here's a hint, it ain't them.

Moon was getting real tired of seeing the outright ugly decor of this place. If he was a different man, he's probably set the place on fire just to spare his eyes. He swears this place favors colors meant to scorch people's eyeballs.

They stop and rest in a place called a 'safe room'; something Moon would've preferred Mona to have mentioned two days ago. But of course it's only brought up right now.

Panther practically collapses into a chair, rather dramatically in fact. Sun takes a quiet seat next to her. Her eyes are dazed, unlike the widened and surprised ones Moon thought they would be.

He wonders what that means.

Skull chooses to slide down the wall like a bug and Mona jumps on the table of all things. Moon steals a chair and pushes it further back. The table had become too crowded for his taste.

It's a nice moment of respite. Water and snacks are shared among them. Then Skull decides it was a time for a pep talk. Moon feels like rolling his eyes, instead he sits and listens. He does feel slightly bad that it all goes in one ear and out the other. He doesn't notice nor look for any extra spring in their step because he's too focused on trying to find the perfect moment to awaken his persona. He just needs to find his inner rebel, right? That shouldn't be too hard. He's got this in the bag.

His eyes light up when they face Kamoshida again for the, what? Fifth time? He lost track since he wasn't even counting. Nor was anyone else for that fact. Both Skull and Panther awaken their personas' because of Kamoshida and he had no doubt he'd be the same. After all, why wouldn't he want to rebel against him? Sure, he lacked any real spine, but he was also tired of being a footstool. Wasn't that enough?

It doesn't really seem to matter because the group of disgruntled teens can't cut through the shield of guards. Kamoshida sat behind them, nearly out of sight. The shadow was barely paying them any mind.

"We should fall back!" Panther shouts over his thoughts. There are too many guards near him, and retreating to another area (as to have them split up to search for them) would thin their numbers when they inevitably collide once again. Sounds like a good enough plan for him. As long as they meet up with the underdress man, he's fine with it.

Retreating led them to get lost like a kid in a shopping center. On the other hand they pass many a cells of cognitive students.

Moon is completely uncomfortable with how many faces he recognized, of faces that had names attracted to them, of faces of students he had just talked to a few days ago.

He makes eye contact with Sun.

"It's unnerving, it's it?" She whispers and Moon is glad that Mona had remembered to tell her that anybody in this place wasn't really real.

He tears his gaze away from hers, his stomach feeling hot. "Very."

"Is…" The word seems to die in her throat before it can really find it's way out. "Are we among these fake ones?"

"Huh?" He looks up, but not at her. He can't bring himself to for some reason and his brain is itching to tell him why.

It still draws up blank when he presses though.

"Have you seen fake versions of yourselves?"

"Unfortunately." Panther answers rather revolted. Or was it bitter?

Skull responds with an answer that opposites her.

Moon shakes his head for no.

"I see…" The words roll around on her tongue as if she were testing them out for herself. "Let's hope we don't see ourselves. That would be weird."

The group chuckles and crosses another bridge. Moon tries to laugh along but cannot find the humor in it.

Speak of the Devil and he shall come.

Thought that's not what was happening right now. Instead he sees an open cell with a familiar (yet not) face huddled up in a corner. When he saw it from the corner of his peripheral, he couldn't help but stop.

The others took notice.

"Whats up?" Skull strolls over and doesn't seem bothered in the slightest. If anything he just tilts his head, like he doesn't understand the value of Moon just standing there before it.

But the boy's feet feels rooted.

The others are close behind and Panther freezes. "Isn't that the transfer student from our class?" She whispers the question, like she was scared of something.

"Kurusu-san." He feels the need to match her tone because he too is fearing as well.

He may not know the boy very well, he's only met him 10 days ago. Not to mention the two have spoken to each other a grand total of four times, but the boy is shocked at the sheer fact there is a doppelgänger.

Why?

Kamoshida doesn't have an interest in him beyond ruining his reputation. Sure, he wasn't happy some punk with a criminal record was transferring into the school, but the horrible man didn't seem to have any interest beside putting the mysterious student in his place. The other cognitions were of students from the volleyball team. Either the boys being holded up in cells or being hurt in creatively bizarre ways and the girls laying around provocatively as eye candy. And while there had been multiple cognitions who stood in their cages and stared unfocused off into nothingness, he had seen none do this.

"Who's Kurusu?" Skull stares at the 2 expectantly for an answer.

Panther snaps out of her stupor first and shakes her head at him. "Did you not just hear me? He's the transfer student."

His eyes widen underneath the mask. "Like, the one with the insane rumors behind them?"

"Yes."

"I think I've seen him around." Sun whispers, more to herself than them.

"What do you think he's doing here?" Moon questions, but there's no time for anyone to suggest anything as Mona decides this isn't worthy of his time.

"Guys, it's just a cognition. It doesn't matter. I know the cage is open, but is that truly important?"

Funny how he mentions the cage door being open when no one had verbally brought it up.

"Mona, didn't you hear me?" Panther crosses her arms. "He just transferred here like, a week ago. He's not on the volleyball team, why would he be here?" She lazily gestures a hand to him. "Kamoshida wouldn't know him."

The cat stops at this. His ears fold, as if thinking about it. "Uh, guess I don't know, but like I said. It doesn't really matter. Besides, we have a mission to undertake."

Sun sighs. "I'm sorry if this comes off as rude, but it feels like we've just been running around with no rhyme or reason."

Mona's tall puffs up at this. It takes a second for Moon to realize this meant he was upset. That's kinda cute. "There's a reason to our paths! I can sense the layout of this palace! Kinda…" The last word is mumbled.

Skull straightens up and swears when the sound of footsteps nears the section of dungeon hall they were in. "Ah shit, they're near."

Their little gang tenses up at the announcement. Turning towards the noise revealed another formation of guards on the lookout for them. As soon as one spots them they advance on them as a unit.

"Crap, we're going to have to fight here. There's a dead end behind us." Skull tightens his grip on his lead pipe and Panther cracks her whip.

Moon spares one last glance at the double who hasn't done anything but curl up in a corner and hug its knees. His focus goes back to the shadows charging at them. This whole thing was a little weird, but Mona's right. It wasn't that important. This was more important.

I'm never going to get tired of seeing that. The awe he felt anytime Skull or Panther would summon their persona was particularly palpable. Internally he felt like a kid being given a glimpse of his favorite mascot at a parade.

But this was so much more real.

He didn't have to be knowledgeable to feel the power these things would effuse. They were a manifestation of a rebellious soul and Moon didn't doubt it for one second.

He can only imagine how it would feel if he wields its power once he has one of his own. Just basing in its presence is one thing; how is the other like?

Before he knew it the last shadow dissolved into an inky black nothingness. He had to snap himself out of his stupor lest he get himself hurt. (He has enough bruises as it stands.)

"Ugh, damn! These things are relentless!" A girly voice whines.

"Come on Lady Ann, we're not through the half of it yet."

He swears he sees her pout for a second, but she wipes it off just as quickly and nods.

"I know… I just…"

"Hey! Don't be complainin'!" A yellow glove points a finger at her. "You wanted this."

His eyes roll and tune them out to stroll over to Sun for a chat. He'll leave those 3 to brawl it out or whatever. "Hey…" He starts, awkwardly. As he always does.

"Hmmm?" Her unblinking stare at the floor is broken by her acknowledging head tilt. "Hello." Judging by her breath alone the boy could tell she was tired. He couldn't blame her though, she had been pulled along on this awfully weird magic girl stuff. Of course she'd been out of her element.

There's a moment of pleasure that he derives from this, but it's quickly gutted by his guilty conscience. He hadn't been much better at the start of all of this. Hell, you could even say it started off worse with him. He had to face the immediate consequence of nearly being killed and seeing someone else nearly be killed.

If anything he should be jealous that she gets it the easiest. No near death experiences or anything of the sort. When having death be dangled as a faraway concept, it doesn't really hit you until it barely grazes your throat. A close call, to say the least.

Maybe he doesn't care about any of that anymore...and maybe he does. Either way… "How are you feeling?"

Her lips are pulled taut in a response. "A lot of things." He sees her eyes walk themselves back to that open cell. "I would think that… It would be obvious how I felt." Her brow furrows and Moon is shooting down the thought of smoothing the creases out with his thumb. "How long have you known about all this?"

"Five days." He blurts out with all the gracefulness of a swan with no legs.

Sun's eyes are wide and she mouths '5' to herself, as if to taste the word and extract all the implications behind it.

She screws her eyes shut and giggles.

It's not a cute, airy, bubbly type of giggle that girls do. But a sarcastic, mirthless acceptance of a situation. She lets out a breath before meeting his gaze. "None of us know what we're doing, do we?"

Moon could answer, but there was no point. It was horribly obvious. (As much as he would like to say Mona knew what he was doing, the guy had amnesia. Could that point be any more counterintuitive?) He chooses to answer with his body language instead and takes a few steps back, breaking the eye contact she initiated.

Sun gets it. She closes her eyes and turns away.

And just like that the conversation dies between them.

He lets it.

Kamoshida, Kamoshida, Kamoshida… They can't ever not encounter the bastard? It's just the teensiest bit annoying, if anybody asked him. As of yet, nobody has. (He scratches out the thought that brings the notion that he wanted to see him earlier. He's far too annoyed with having to fight again so soon to care.)

The guy seems even more enraged with the reappearance of Panther. Seething at the notion that Sun was there, and throwing some derogating lines at her.

The blonde is quick to attack on the other girl's behalf. Snapping at him about one thing or another. She even spits on him.

Moon can respect that.

Of course the double is livid at this and guards come pouring in, but it seems like their tactic of sending the shadows on a wild goose chase paid off. For when he sees how little guards arrive to his aid, he swears.

"Not so big without your men to hide behind, huh?" Skull taunts, having gained higher ground.

The double of Kamoshida seemed to be a creature of habit and as such attempted to flee the moment his guards were neutralized. This time around the gang had decided to corner him, which was done with very minimal effort if anyone was asking.

It was like herding cattle, except there was only 1 cattle and it had 2 legs instead of 4.

On second thought, that was a horrible comparison.

"Shut up, You! I'm not scared by a bunch of children who don't know their place!"

"Oh, really?"

Mona takes the reins of the conversation from Skull. "If you didn't feel threatened by us, you wouldn't have guards go after us!"

"Yeah, what he said!"

"Can it, Skull."

A grumble.

Kamoshida reared his ugly head and spat in Mona's direction.

The not-cat yowled and dodged. Hissing softy as an afterthought.

"You'd think that I would go out of my way to dirty my hands to punish scum like you? You're not even worth my time."

"Bullshit! You beat me and Mis-" he bites his tongue at the slip up, "Moon a couple of days ago!"

The bastard only smirks and shrugs his shoulders. "I was bored."

Moon expresses his disbelief as a scoff, which does not go unnoticed by the poorly dressed man.

"What? Don't believe me?"

The only thing I don't believe is the taunting tone you're using even though we have you cornered. The words don't make it past his head though.

"I thought you'd only hurt us when you were frustrated about something!" Sun blurts out. The teen looks to recall that this isn't the real Kamoshida, and reddens up in embarrassment over it.

"Oh, I use you guys when I'm frustrated, alright." There's a flirty undertone to his words, and it makes Moon grimace.

"You really are human garbage." Panther steps into the forefront.

The shadow's posture changes immediately. "What did you say to me, Bitch?!" The man hauls himself up and attempts to swing a fist at her. There's a gasp from Sun and Skull tightened his grip around his pipe, looking like he was ready to use it.

Panther on the other hand has it covered. She dodges the swing and rolls out of his way. Her whip cracks at his feet, forcing some distance between them. "How dare you talk to a king like that!" He drives in to grab her, but Panther jumps out of the way and latches her whip around his ankle.

She pulls.

Almost comedically, the man falls flat on his face.

After a second of nobody breathing, she retracts her weapon back to her side.

Kamoshida slowly pushes himself back up. He rests on his knees as he turns his line of sight to glare daggers at them. "When my guards get back I'll…" He mumbles the rest and Moon tries not to make it out when he knows he won't like what he'll hear.

"Sweet moves, Panther!"

She straightens up at Skull's compliment. But when she goes to say something, he interrupts her.

"Alright, let's gang up on him now."

"Wait, don't do that! You could make him trigger his final form!" "Hold a second, Skull! I want to ask him a question!"

The cat themed members of his little phantom troupe turn to look at each other.

"Final form?" Panther poses. "Question!?" Mona screeches.

Ah, it's scary how in sync yet not they are.

"Whaddya mean final form?" Skull reenters the conversation, but Morgan shakes his head.

"No, no. I'll tell you guys later. Panther said she wants to ask him something. Do it now, we probably should leave after. The other guards might find us by then."

"Right, the wild goose chase we sent them on will only hold them off for so long." She crosses her arms. "Hey, You!"

"What?!" He spits.

"What's your business with the transfer student?"

Moon suddenly hears everything just that bit more clearer now. "Wha-what?" he stutters. "You're asking that?"

She looks back at him. "Well, yeah. Aren't you curious?"

He nods, but before he could add a line of dialogue for his thoughts, Kamoshida laughs.

"The transfer student?" He smirks. "That's what you're asking me?"

"Yes!" She snaps, clearly not in a mood to play games with his man.

"Don't know him."

Panther opens her mouth.

"Then why is he here!?" Moon feels his face heat up at all the eyes that stare at him. I wasn't even that loud! Why are they all looking at me?!

"Thought garbage like you would associate with trash like him." The shadow stands up and brushes off dust from his floofy cape. "If you really want to know…" A lopsided grin paints his face as he redirects his attention to the blonde. "What happened was your fault, you know."

A pensive look from her.

"You were so reluctant to throw yourself onto me that I had to take a replacement."

"Wait…" she whispers.

"A quiet docile boy wasn't what I was expecting, but I guess he was okay." He shrugs as the teens realize in horror what the shadow was implying. "He was definitely a virgin, which was all that mattered."

"You bastard!" Moon heard Panther scream at the man. He feels that he can't breath. This sick son of a bitch… He…! To a student! A kid who just arrived to this city no less!

It could have been anyone.

Moon feels a murderous intent rise within him. Doesn't matter that he doesn't know this person well, no one deserves that.

Nobody.

He knows all the shit Kamoshida did, or at least he thought he did. He thought he was aware of the misdeeds he would inflict onto others. After all, he was the errand boy. He's heard too much, was told too much, but apparently he's been stung in the dark as well.

He wasn't aware of why Kamoshida had hurt Sakamoto. Until as of late.

And he had no idea—Is that why Kurusu was absent?

He feels bile come up his throat, his thoughts paused momentarily, allowing him to catch the tail ends of Sun yelling something at Kamoshida.

The man starts to get annoyed at all the talking that was happening. "So what?" He answers incredulously. "If it makes you feel any better, you were my first pick. But the kid; I forgot his name, practically threw himself at me. Who am I to say no to that? He got a cute face anyway."

"I—I was what ?!"

A shit eating grin splits his face in half. "I know, everyone wants to be loved by me. Don't worry, you'll have your—"

"Enough out of you!" Panther shouts at him while Sun stands there, recoiling from his implications.

Skull is eerily quiet throughout the entirety of it.

"That's fine." The man continues, like he was waving aside a fly. "My guards are here."

Moon looks down the corridor in alarm as he was trying to keep in his lunch. An influx of guards poured in. They had been loitering around for far too long.

"Shit! There's too many!" Skull turned to Mona, both looking like they were agreeing in making a hasty retreat.

"NO!" Sun shouts, surprising everyone by her sheer volume. "How could you?! I can't stay silent about this any longer!"

And to his surprise, he heard Sun screaming.

As this was the third time he's seen someone awaken their persona, it wasn't as shocking. Though the pained screaming and blood that dropped once the mask was ripped off did make him feel uneasy.

Surprisingly; or perhaps not, was how she proceeded to wipe the floor with her persona and kama that was apparently her default weapon.

The others joined in, and Moon?

He hid.

Everyone else has a persona to fight with, why should he even intervene? They clearly have this in the bag.

His eyes trail to follow Sun. Her persona's bright red skin was easy to follow before she dispersed into blue flames.

Hua Po, Sun had called her. She looked oddly simple and plain compared to Captain Kidd and the mini ship he stands on or Carmen and her voluminous dress and mini servants she has on leashes. Honestly, Hua Po was easy on the eyes.

He didn't notice how suffocating it was in the palace until they reentered the real world.

It really was a fresh breath of air. Especially after, well, everything.

Suzui was left tired after the whole ordeal. As expected. Takamaki was the same way as well when she first got back. It had given Sakamoto, Morgana, and him time to explain stuff to her.

Now he found himself in a similar disposition. Although there was no need to tell Suzui anything, as they had done a rundown before entering the palace today. However there was an elephant in the room to address.

In fact, there were several. Though Yuuki did not know it.

"You okay Shiho-kun?" Takamaki sat besides the worn-out girl, passing her a drink and snack combo.

"I'm fine. Just a little overwhelmed." She cracks the seal of the soft drink and takes a generous gulp.

Sakamoto pops his necks and plops himself next to the blonde.

Yuuki decides he should join the others on the curb. It feels uncomfortable and he'd rather they sit somewhere else. It'll do for now though, at least until Suzui regained her strength.

It was an awkward silence after, not a trace of ataraxic was present. When Suzui felt her lightheadedness leave her, they all walked over to the train station with little exchange.

Getting inside the train station however, was a different tale. Takamaki was quick to herd everyone to some unoccupied seats in a corner. There weren't many listening ears around here, so with a lower tone, she prompted a discussion of what the fuck just happened.

"It's a rabbit hole." she whisper shouted. "This whole palace and metaverse thing was weird enough, but this bastard-"

"We gotta tell the cops." Sakamoto interrupted her unapologetically. "I'm not good with authority, so one of ya have to report it instead." He took no one adding onto his comment to continue. "This isn't something we can just walk away with knowing!"

"With what evidence!?"

He blinks. "Well-"

Takamaki holds her hand out. "Sakamoto, I have to stop you there. I fully agree with you, but we can't just tell the police what he did without any evidence. They'll brush us aside or worse, we'll get in trouble for trying to accuse him."

"But we ain't lying." She opens her mouth. "No, no." He shakes his head. "I get what you mean. It just pisses me the hell off."

There's a silence where nobody knew what to say.

"Then that settles it." Morgana steps out of Takamaki's bag to sit on her lap. His ears aren't as perky as usual. "The only way to bring Kamoshida down is to go through with stealing his heart." The others nodded.

"Are you sure?" Suzui spoke up, looking uncertain. "That it'll actually work?"

"Yup." He nods. "If we steal his treasure, his distortions at heart will fade away. He'll feel guilty about what he's done and confess on his own volition."

"Huh." She looks away. "This all feels so surreal… To think we've been given these sorts of powers."

"Oh yeah, how do you think we felt at first?" Sakamoto knocks his elbow into Yuuki who grunts, but doesn't disagree. "I mean, we were given these powers in the first place for some reason, yeah? It has to be for this."

Yuuki notices Sakamoto's fist clench and the boy mutter something bitter to himself.

"Of course! I just know it, it wasn't a coincidence that I met you guys." Morgana meows.

People nearest to them turn their heads to stare, certain of themselves they just heard a cat.

The teens shush him.

"Sorry." He apologizes. His little head bowed and his ears droopy.

"Just keep your voice down. I'm not sure if I'm allowed to bring you in here." Takamaki repositions her bag to block him from sight.

"Pretty sure pets have to be in a cage." Suzui informs her.

"Please don't put me in a cage."

"I'm not, don't worry." The blonde pets his fur for reassurance.

"Well, that aside, I still have something important to tell you guys."

"And what's that?" The black haired girl asks.

With a purpose, he turns to stare at Yuuki, surprisingly. "I have something to confess."

Yuuki didn't like the sound of that.

"I think you've probably noticed it by now."

Yuuki swallows hard. "Noticed what?"

Morgana gives him a look, something he wasn't aware a cat could do. "Your persona." He announced rather matter-of-factly. "Or rather your lack thereof."

No one spoke.

"What do you mean?" Although he had an idea of what the not-cat meant.

Morgana sighs, in this weird way only an animal can. "You're the only person here that hasn't summoned a persona. Haven't you wondered why that's the case despite you being here since day one?"

He looks away because yes, he has. He's wondered about it a lot. Taking up more time than it should for something he loosely understands.

"There's a reason behind it."

Well, yes. He could guess that much. Most things that happen or are the way things are have a reason behind it.

"Yuuki," The boy feels weird about how the little guy just uses everyone's given name with such casualness. Not to mention he's never asked permission before. "–you can't summon a persona."

He blinks. "What?!" His hands tighten into fists in his lap. He lets the pressure go when he feels his nails bite into his palm.

"I'm sorry I haven't told you earlier. I've known since we met. I just had a feeling, ya know?"

Now, he knows he can handle this like a well mannered person. He can accept this explanation without any fuss. He can forgive his teammate for hiding this.

But…

He doesn't. This feels like a slap. Like he's been shown food he can't eat or even afford. He feels…defensive. "Feel or know?! Those two are very different things!"

"Mishima-kun, quite down!" hisses Takamaki.

He complies, but he's not done. "A feeling isn't proof, Morgana. Maybe I'll get one later."

Morgana casts a look of pity at him which Yuuki didn't appreciate. He doesn't usually have to deal with these sorts of stares, because no one bothers to look at him. He's just another face in the crowd. Maybe that's why this only further serves to upset him.

In his head, he knows he shouldn't be upset with that. After all, what is pity but sad kindness?

"Yuuki…"

"Mishima, chill. Just let him speak." Sakamoto prompts the boy, but he isn't so sure if he'll listen.

"I know this sounds weird, but this whole situation is weird, right? I just know these sorts of things. I can just sense stuff related to the metaverse. I'm sorry; I am, but I don't think you can summon a persona." He takes a breath to explain further. "A persona is born from the rebel will within one's heart. While anyone can be a rebel, not everyone can host a persona in their heart. If that were the case, then anyone could use the metaverse. Does that make sense?"

The tense hold of his shoulders fall. "Yeah… I understand, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to blow up." The blond pats his arm. "But…how come I'm the only one?" He looks up to the others, quietly watching. "Such a coincidence that everyone here can…"

"It has to do with your soul."

He blinks at the revelation. Soul?! This is…

"Your soul just isn't big enough."

4/21/2016 Thursday

It hurts, to put it plain and simple.

Yuuki has let himself be pushed and walked all over since he was young, he's never been confrontational nor strong-willed. He's a pushover. Wallflower at best. So yeah, it stings. Like a blade nicking his skin.

He had a chance to not be a doormat or to be confined to the sidelines. He had a chance to take something by the hand for once and work against someone on the downlow.

Except that was a blatant lie. He never even had an opportunity in the first place. Doomed to stay in his role forever.

How downright infuriating.

How dare he be shown such a wonderful thing to only be told he can't have a slice of the pie. Especially when all around him have their own piece.

It pissed him the fuck off.

A more cynical part of his brain hisses between its teeth. 'Of course not, what did you expect? As if you could do anything worthwhile. The only sort of luck that favors you is the unkind sort.'

This however, does not kill his ambitions to help. As long as he can hold out in the palace, he'll be there. Even if he's just lookout by that point, he wants to help in any way he can. To be involved. He wants to be a part of something. Just once. He just wants the world to let him have this.

That said, all this stuff still leaves him feeling like a main character in an anime. He knows he has a role to play, even if it isn't obvious.

Even if…

Damn, when are they going to text me?

At the moment he was eating lunch with Kurusu. He has invited the boy to eat with him for several reasons. He looked rather lonely and awkward at his desk. And well…of course no one else was really going to talk to him. (And that was Yuuki's fault.)

Evidently the other half of his reasoning was just plain simple sympathy…pity if you don't wish to sugarcoat it.

The guy seemed nice enough, and Yuuki tried to remember if he has always been this soft spoken from the start.

"What's got you worked up in a pickle?"

Yuuki does not jump at his words nor does he get startled by them. Totally. "Pickle?" What a weird saying.

"I have more weird sayings hiding up my sleeve if you want."

He declines the apparent joke and his eyes stare back at his device one last time. Maybe he should just wait for the text later. He apologizes for ignoring him, but surprisingly (or unsurprisingly) Kurusu just brushes it off like it was nothing.

"I ignored you a few days ago." He adds on.

"Yeah, but you were obviously agitated about something." He says without thinking. Immediately he mentally slaps himself in the face for not having a damn filler. Yuuki looks back, hoping the other boy wasn't offended by the statement.

All Kurusu does is look away. A joke leaves him.

Yuuki is relieved by it. "Uh, no… A text actually." An honest answer. A simple one. The next thing that comes out of his month does so without his permission. Before he knows it a vague line of questions is directed at the boy seated across from him. It's a mess of words and by the end of it he wishes to hide in a hole and die.

Kurusu throws his trash right into a waste bin before giving him some wise words of wisdom. "Hasn't everyone?"

He's relieved by how chill the boy is. Seriously, that shit he just said was really edgy. And for Kurusu to be so nonchalant about it… "Right! Yeah, sorry." He blubbers. "Don't know why I'm complaining."

The taller boy blinks, as if he's surprised. "Everyone has a right to bitch, Mishima-kun. You shouldn't feel bad about it."

Admittedly hearing the other boy cuss was funny if not odd. For someone who talks that quietly, swearing just sounds weird. He chuckles, but it's a quiet one. His face feels a little hot, he's evidently stupid. How can he not be embarrassed? "Right." And that's the end of that.

When he got back home he really tried not to think about it. But unsavory thoughts crawled their way to the forefront of his brain.

What had happened? Was Kurusu just in the wrong place at the wrong time? Did Kamoshida threaten him? Was this really a random act? Or did he plan this?

He doesn't believe for a moment that the boy threw himself at the ugly bastard. Kamoshida's shadow is obviously delusional. Saying shit that fits his egotistical view of the world. That man couldn't get his head out of his ass for more than two seconds if his life depended on it.

It makes him angry that the shadow had even claimed such. That he didn't even recall his name. To do something so horrible to someone and think of them as an object rather than a person—

Yuuki wanted him dead.

But the boy wasn't capable of murder. Though if Kamoshida were to die, he wouldn't even blink.

The next best thing was just to have all his misdeeds be made public. Ruin his public image and career forever, and get his ass thrown in jail for life.

He wholeheartedly hopes he rots.

As the days blur…

The next few weeks are a conglomerate of school and the palace. Which are kinda one in the same if you think about it.

While at school he's mostly hanging with Kurusu, who as he thought, was actually a very nice person. He just has bitch resting face, which is unfortunate to say the least. (His glasses do kinda hide it though...)

Other times he's plotting with his gang about one thing or another. He still helps during their palace runs, but mostly he's on the lookout while the others tear their way through the palace or figure out puzzles.

He does get a shot in every once and awhile, but his tkachev is more for precaution.

At random one day, Sakamoto points out that Suzui should be given a new code name as her new get up and persona don't vibe with 'Sun'. The others had agreed.

"Butterfly is a good one." Morgana notes.

Yuuki thinks about her costume, and the way her persona looked.

(Insert image of her costume I drew, but can't link but this is FF. If you want to see the ref I made, please check it out on AO3, Quotev, or Wattpad. I have the same username, expect no space between BlackDevil and WhiteDemon.)

Takamaki counteracts the suggestion. Pointing out it was too long. "How about "Fairy"? They always have butterfly wings. It matches your mask and your persona kinda looks like one."

Suzui lights up. "Oh, yeah. I like that. Fairy it is."

And just as quick she went from Sun to Fairy.

On another day, he and Sakamoto are threatened with expulsion by Kamoshida. The blond couldn't keep his mouth shut and while Yuuki understood, he'd wish the boy would have a better filter.

So, the looming threat of expulsion was also hanging over his head. Fun.

The girls were mortified by the notion, but it also gave them a deadline they had to abide by.

The days dwindle on, and seemingly at random, Sakamoto once again points something out. "Hey guys, I just realized we never officially made someone leader."

Everyone stops talking. "Huh, good point." The taller girl agrees. She clanks her acrylic nails against the bench.

Suzui pipes up that she sorta saw Sakamoto as leader at first, but since then Takamaki has kinda stolen the mantle from him.

The blonde blushes lightly. "Oh my God, I didn't even notice. Sorry." She gives Sakamoto a playful shove to the shoulder.

"Man, it's whatever. I'm not smart enough to be leader anyway."

She frowns. "Hey, don't put yourself down like that. You figured this stuff out first. Give yourself more credit."

He shrugs. "Yeah, I guess so. Besides, you fit the role better." He grins. "You're really good at barking orders."

She smacks him.

Yuuki laughs at the display. Suzui shakes her head.

Morgana jumps back into the bench to give his praise. "I think Lady Ann's purfect for being leader."

Yuuki rolls his eyes at the pun.

The next day Takamaki makes a statement. "My first decree as leader is that I think we should start referring to each other by our giving names."

"Eh?" Sakamoto pops the seal of his soda can.

"We're a team, right? If we're fighting alongside each other we're going to have to become good friends." She folds her arms. "Otherwise this won't work. Sooooo, I just think it'll be good if we weren't so formal with each other."

Suzui kicks her legs from where she was sitting. "Yeah, we already all kinda knew each other before…"

The next few minutes were awkward to say the very least but… She was right. Something like that was the next step to working together better. You have to get comfortable with your teammates.

4/30/2016 Calling Card

Today they posted the calling card. He and Ryuji got in hella early and plastered them everywhere. They had to ensure that not only did the entire school see it, but Kamoshida got the memo as well.

It worked, the man definitely saw it. He could hear the man yelling at students from the hallway they were in.

"Yheesh, that guy sounding like he's having an aneurysm." Ryuji comments. They all peak around the corner. Only two students stood around. They were chatting to each other, ignoring the situation.

"He sounds really upset. I hope no one saw you guys." Shiho sounds worried and as sweet as that is; there were barely even teachers in the facility when they arrived. He's certain that they won't be caught.

"Good job guys." Ann gives them a thumbs up. "Tomorrow is the big day so make sure to eat well and get rest tonight."

"Right."

"Yup."

"Okay."

They all look at each other and chuckle. Maybe it was out of nerves. If they mess up tomorrow… The repercussions would affect them in more than one way.

The sound of hurrying footsteps draw their attention away from each other and back into the hall.

Plain as day Yuuki can see Kurusu hurry into the hall.

"Is he okay?"

"What is he lookin' for?"

"Maybe you should go to him." Ann suggested. Yuuki was the only one that actually knew him after all.

He didn't have to be told that twice.

5/1/2016 …

Up on the roof, a group of teens and their weird not-cat discussed a topic that was pending on them.

"Okay, so today's the big day. We can't mess up on this. We have to steal his treasure without a hitch." Ann waggled her finger at them like she was their babysitter or something.

"Yeah, can't wait 'til I get to pummel the guy." Ryuji stretched his arms before resettling.

"Nobody's pummeling anything." Morgana scolds. "I told you already. When we come for his treasure, his shadow will be on very high alert. Not only will stronger shadows be guarding him, but his final form will take place."

"So?"

A groan. "He's going to look like a monster."

"A monster? Why?"

"Because Shiho, the final form he'll take will reflect him from a moral standpoint. Given that palaces only manifest from distortion, a shadow's final form usually looks monstrous."

Ann mumbles something belittling under her breath. "Wow, who would've guessed he's a monster…"

"Oh, there's also one more thing we need to talk about." The cat turns to look at Ann, who seems to pick up what he means right away.

"Right… So, guys." They give her their attention. "Since we can't afford to mess up on this, Mona and I decided we should have Yuuki-kun sit this one out." She looks apologetically at him. "This isn't punishment or anything, you just…you can't catch up to us." She slaps herself in the forehead. "Wait, that sounds mean."

Yuuki laughs in what feels to be a default reaction. Oh. He understands, he really does. But something like this still stings. Just like before.

"What I meant is-"

He shakes his head for her to stop. "No, I understand. You two are right. I'm too vulnerable without a persona. Not to mention I was support to begin with. You guys don't need me anymore."

"Don't say that!" Shiho sounds mortified.

Ryuji adds on. "Yeah! You're a big help. We just don't want you to get hurt."

He chuckles, feeling awkward. "No, guys. It's okay. You don't have to sugarcoat it. I'm not helpful at this point. The palace is getting harder and I'm not given the boosts you guys get."

"He's right…" Morgana mumbles.

Ann smacks him.

"Yowl!"

She gets up and sits next to him. "Hey, that might be true, but you're still our teammate and friend. Thanks for all the help you've given us so far. This group wouldn't be the same without you."

The suddenness of the tiny heartfelt speech left him without words and a tad shocked. She seizes the moment by giving him a side hug.

Not gonna lie, it felt nice.

"Thank you Ann-san." She brought a smile to his face and she mirrored one right back at him.

When they're packing up as lunch will end soon, Ryuji poses a question. "Hey, Yuuki. Whatd'ya gonna do when we're stealin' you-know-who's treasure?"

"Hmmm." Yuuki thinks about it for all of 3 second as he shuts the lid of his lunchbox closed. "I'm going to hang out with Kurusu-kun."

"That's good." Shiho's already ready to go. She stands there. Waiting. Watching. Whating. "I may not know him personally, but he probably needs a friend right now. I bet he feels incredibly anxious about tomorrow."

"And we're not?" The blond jokes. Ann wordlessly elbows him. "Ow!"

5/2/2016 Aftermath

As Yuuki walked back into the gymnasium, he passed by a tall brunette and a black haired girl. Trailing behind them was that teacher from earlier who had tried to herd the students. As he's never had that teacher before, he doesn't really remember his name. But he does know that he's boisterous and he's glad he's never had him.

The teacher in the suit gives him a look and tells him to head back to class. Yuuki manages to stutter out an excuse of forgetting something.

He slips by.

Inside he sees the trio right away. Without any of them needing to talk, he could feel the dreary awkward atmosphere. "What happened when I was gone?"

Ann tells him that some girls had apologized about spreading rumors and the way they treated her.

"You were so forgiving." Shiho added on. "In fact, I'm sorry that you had to go though."

"Shiho!"

"You were doing it for my sake! And yet look where it got you." She looks away. "At least the air has been cleared."

"Oh Shiho-kun…" The girls embrace each other in a sweet hug.

Yuuki almost wants to say 'aw', but that would be weird. Hearing all this though makes him think of the things he's done. He still owns Kurusu an apology (although the other boy doesn't know it), but there's one person in front of him he can apologize to right now. "I think it's only fair if I apologize too."

"Huh?" The blonde questions dumbly.

"Ann-san, I'm sorry!" He bows slightly. "Everyone in the volleyball team knew… but we pretended we didn't. Please forgive me for not saying anything."

"Whoa, this is a lot guys…" She sounds a little nervous. "But like I said to the others, it's okay. It's all in the past now."

He nods.

"Sheesh, you're getting so many apologies I feel like I need to apologize now." Ryuji jokes.

Ann rolls her eyes at him. "For what? You didn't do anything.

He laughs and turns towards Yuuki. "Where were you anyway?"

"Oh, uh. I was helping Kurusu-kun."

Shiho was the first to worry. "Why? Did something happen?"

"Uh…" How should he phrase this? "He…threw up? I guess he was sick. I took him to the nurse's office."

Ryuji raises an eyebrow. "That fast?"

"Well, no. I passed him off to a teacher."

"At least he has break to feel better." Ann states. "How are you feeling about Kamoshida?"

He thinks about it, turning the question over in his head. "I'm surprised." Was his honest confession. "His change of heart was so intense he wanted to kill himself for it."

"That's what I was thinkin'!" Shouts the blond boy.

"Quite!" Ann reprimands him. "The whole school's going to hear you. Anyway, we probably should head back to class. We don't wanna get in trouble."

"I totally freaked out… He really did have a change of heart… And we were lucky his mind didn't get messed up either! This was an A+ job!" Ryuji fist pumped the air in his excitement.

Yuuki chuckled from his adjacency seat. The two boys were sitting on the desks left out on the roof. It was way past the school day, but they were still here. Shiho took the desk Morgana was sitting on and Ann opted to stand to the side (for some reason).

"Does this mean that they won't have a mental shutdown even if their palace disappears…?" Morgana mused. "I see… So we need to persuade the shadow without killing it, and send it back to its real self. Our targets won't undergo a cognitive collapse if we do that."

"So, we can get 'em to confess with no bad stuff?" Ryuji smirks. "Hey! That works for me!"

Ann shakes her head. "Do you have to be so loud?" Their leader sounds a little defeated.

"Don't worry about it." He brushes her off. "That aside, I was surprised you could hold yourself back against Kamoshida's shadow."

Yuuki's ears perk up at this. He obviously wasn't there when they stole Kamoshida's treasure. Hearing this was giving him some insight he otherwise wouldn't have. It's too awkward to directly ask them for details.

"It wasn't like that…" She crosses her arms. "I just wanted Kamoshida to apologize himself."

"You're so kind, Lady Ann." Morgana meows.

"No matter how much of a shit bag he was, finishing him off woulda left a bad aftertaste, huh?"

"Huh? That's not it. I think revenge is better served if I make him repent. Realizing what he's done, he'll grovel for forgiveness the rest of his life, you know? I just believe there are fates worse than death." Ann finishes with a sweet smile.

"Ann-chan…" Shiho gets out nervously.

Yuuki felt that.

"Holy shit…" Ryuji mumbles. "Anyway, that's all settled…" He sounds nervous too. "But you know, there was one more thing I was wonderin' about that castle. Why was Kamoshida the only one who had that Metaverse thing?"

Morgana stretches before answering "It isn't necessarily limited to him." he explains. "It's something anyone could have if their heart became warped from their desires."

"Anyway…" Ann attempts to steer the conversation to no avail.

"Wanna check it out?" Morgana prompts.

"N-Not right now. We better lay low for a while. People are still gonna be talkin' about Kamoshida." It was evident that Ryuji was using his only brain cell for this. "Then again, it's totally impossible for someone to find out what we did at this palace."

Ann stops him in his tracks. "Yeah, about that… Weird rumors about you and 'associates' are already going around. Stuff like, you all got together and threatened Kamoshida with something close to physical violence…"

"The hell!?"

"People aren't going to believe that phantom thieves really exist." She pouts. "The calling card's being treated like it was a prank by someone who knew what Kamoshida was doing."

"Makes sense… We're the ones who did it, and I still don't completely believe it myself."

"Let's wait for things to settle down for the time being."

"Anyways, let's check how much this medal can be sold for. It'd be better if we pawned it off ASAP."

"Won't he medal be traceable? We might get in trouble…" Shiho brings up.

"Yeah, doesn't that have his name engraved into it?" Yuuki seconds.

Ryuji shakes his head. "Nah, we're fine. It's generic." He looks back down on his phone. "Ooh, got a hit!" He frowns. "...Wait, thirty thousand yen!? That's all a gold medal's worth!?"

At the mention of ¥30,000, Ann puts up a sticky sweet tone of voice. "Remember that time in middle school? I lent you some money."

The blond stands up, startling the quiet kids. "There's no way I borrowed thirty thousand yen from you!"

"Wouldn't it be around that much with compounded interest?"

"Interest my ass!"

"I'm not saying that I'm taking all of it." She rolls her eyes. "I mean, it's your fault for not paying me back all these years! It's just common sense!"

"Dammit…"

Morgana takes back the reins of the conversation from the two blond(e)s. "I agree on laying low and keeping an eye on the situation. However, you dragged me into this. It would be nonsense not to celebrate a successful mission." Nevermind, even Morgana had a second agenda.

"I guess we could blow this dirty money on something fun." Ryuji shrugs.

"Discussions among phantom thieves are to take place over luxurious food. How about it?" The cat seems particularly excited.

"Hey, wait—" Ann pauses. "...Nah, I guess it's fine. There's somewhere I want to go then."

"Where's that?"

The girls make eye contact and have a mental conversation that Yuuki does not have the key for. "It's a place Shiho-kun and I have been wanting to go for a while."

"I owe money, so I can't complain… You good with that?" Ryuji looks to Yuuki for a second opinion.

"Honest? Food sounds good."

"I'll leave it to your discretion as well, Lady Ann." Morgana pipes up.

"I'll call and check the prices later then." She smiles.

"Oh, I can do that. I have more free time on my hands now that all the volleyball will probably be canceled." Shiho interjects.

"When should we go? Wanna do it soon, like tomorrow?" Ryuji questions, looking at his phone for the time.

"Why don't we go on the last day of the holidays?" Ann suggests. "It'll help energize us when school life starts up again the day after."

"Then… the 5th, on Children's Day."

"Wait, who's going to sell this?" Yuuki gestures towards the metal.

"Leave that to us. We know a store that'll buy anything. Don't we, Lady Ann?" Morgana stares back at her for confirmation.

"Oh yeah! Ryuji, that place you bought that replica gun is also a pawn shop."

"For real!?"

5/5/2016 Thursday

"So good...!" Ryuji spoke with his mouth full.

"No wonder Lady Ann chose this place…!" Morgana peeks his head out of said girl's bag.

"Of course it's good. This is a famous hotel, after all." She pets his head. "Oh yeah, I heard that the police are coming to interview some people at school."

"That's troublesome." Morgana...cat frowns?

"My name's gonna come up for sure. People're spreadin' all sorts of rumors about me and Kamoshida…" Ryuji cuts a piece of his steak and eats it. "But we got 'em pumped up! I keep hearin' stuff like, "The Phantom Thieves really stole his heart!" I think most people don't believe it, but some of them actually seem grateful." He pulls out his phone. "Look at this."

To his surprise, Yuuki finds himself looking at the unpolished homepage to his new website. He feels embarrassment rise within his cheeks.

"The Phantom Aficionado Website…?" Ann starts to read the comments posted. ""Well done, Phantom Thieves"..." "Now I can keep going too"... "Thank you for giving us hope"..."

"Pretty cool, huh?" Ryuji smirks.

Yuuki is going to die.

"I was just desperate to deal with my own problems, but seeing people saying all this feels… strange." Ann puts a hand up to her chin.

Shiho adds her 2 cents. "It feels nice though, to know people appreciate it."

"Yeah…" The blond agrees.

"Uh, guys?"

"Hmmm? What is it Yuuki-kun?" Ann asks.

"That website… I made it like, two days ago." He hides his face in his hands. "I'm kinda embarrassed you found it so quickly."

He hears Shiho laugh and Ryuji stutter.

"Wait, for real?! Dude, that's awesome! You made it so quick."

"I forgot you had a thing for computers. Just be careful with it okay? You don't want to give anything away."

He lets out a dry laugh. "Don't worry Shiho-San. I made sure that it looks like a fan site."

"Just be cautious is all." She claps her hands. "Anyway, I think it's time to eat!"

Ann abruptly stands up and gasps, startling her friends. "This place has a time limit!"

Ryuji checks the time on his phone and jumps up as well. "Oh crap, we only got an hour to eat!"

The blonde's head whips to stare at the clock. "Just fifty minutes left!"

"Ah, I'm not gonna finish all the beef dishes at this pace!" Ryuji whines while scratching the back of his head.

"I need to eat my way through the entire dessert menu…!" And just like that Ann was gone with the wind.

"Oh." Shiho commentates. Then Ryuji teleported to the buffet area in an instant. The two left behind looked towards each other, then to their friends piling food onto their plates. Then back to each other.

Morgana sighed. "Alright, one of you stay here with me to hold down the fort. The other one can go get their food."

"I'll stay here." They spoke in unison.

He blinked. She blinked.

"No, you can go first…" The words died in their mouths as they realized they were doing it again.

"Wow, you guys are really in sync…"

After everyone had stuffed themselves and the boys went to the restroom, they returned to a frowning Shiho and an annoyed looking Ann. "What took you so long!?" she snaps.

"Why're you all pissy…?"

Ann shakes her head in dismay. "Sorry… I had a run-in with some woman a second ago. She bumped into me, but then said it was all my fault when she dropped her plate…"

He scoffs. "Sounds like a real bitch…"

"I'm sure she was just having a bad day." Shiho chimes in, ever the considerate one.

"Yeah… Thanks though. But… the restaurant workers all looked at me with this disapproving expression…" The boys sat down as she continued. "I wonder if we're out of place here…"

"There are a lot of rich fancy adults around here. We kinda stick out by being a bunch of normal teenagers." Yuuki comments. Looking around just showed him guests among guests in high end wear.

Ryuji grunts. "Hey, Morgana."

"What is it?"

"...Anyone could have a palace, yeah?"

"Anyone with a strong distorted desire."

He uncrosses his legs and leans into the table. "Same for them havin' a change of heart if their treasure gets stolen?"

A nod. "That would be the case."

The blonde tilts her head. "Why are you bringing this up all of a sudden?"

"We had trouble earlier too. These selfish shitheads who just looked down on everyone else...I was just wonderin' if we'd be able to change those kindsa people too."

Their little group looked at each other, all wondering the same thing. "You mean… you want to continue as the Phantom Thieves?"

"...I've been thinkin'. We put a lot of work into changin' Kamoshida's heart, but nobody believes in the Phantom Thieves. Plus… those guys who had no other choice but to deal with it are thankin' us. Us, of all people."

"Well, many of us were affected by Kamoshida…" Shiho trails off.

"I… I agree." Ann leans in. "If we ignore people who are in trouble, I'd go back to being the same as I was before…!" Her friend lays a comforting hand on her shoulder.

"Well, that's true." Morgana ponders. When nobody speaks, he starts back up. "You're under my tutelage. There's nothing we can't accomplish as phantom thieves!" He cheers.

"Shouldn't we be able to help 'em out?" Ryuji asks no one.

"But…that means we'll have to fight Shadows again, doesn't it…?" The tall girl looks apprehensive.

"Indeed. That can't be avoided." The cat confirms.

"Eh, I'm sure we'll manage." Ryuji chuckles. "Right?"

"Sounds like a lot of work." Yuuki jokes, not what else to say since he's probably not going back into anymore palaces.

"Heh… Even if you guys are still just fledglings, this means we're an actual organization now."

"Fledglings…?" Ann repeats from Morgana's comment. She laughs. "That's actually pretty fitting for us."

"We're birds of a feather." Shiho adds on.

"All right, it's settled! We're gonna catch all these shitty adults by surprise, and make ourselves known to the world!"

Ann rolls her eyes at Ryuji's excitement and poses a question, "Are you guys still okay with me being the leader?"

"Of course, Ann-chan."

"Yeah, I'm not one for leadership roles…"

"No objections here! I can't handle all that responsibility stuff." Ryuji jokes.

"I already said you're perfect for this, Lady Ann."

Rolling over onto another topic, Ryuji brings up their group name. "Well, should we decide on a name for our group? I just went with Phantom Thieves of Hearts last time, but don't you think a real name would be cooler?"

"Ooh, I've got it! I want it to be something both cute and luxurious sounding…" Ann goes first. "Let me see… How about "The Diamonds"?" Not even taking herself seriously, she laughs.

"...I'm gettin' a real little league baseball feel from it."

Morgana went next. "Well then, here's my suggestion. How about "Tilefish Poele"?"

"Tile… what?"

"That's what I ate earlier. It's commemorative, no?"

The boy crosses his legs and leans back into his seat. "Hell no, you idiot! Ugh, what about you two?"

"Um, Robin Hoods? I'm not very creative…"

"Hmm, it's okay. Shiho?"

"Honest, I just like Phantom Thieves. It reminds me of that anime troupe."

((I totally fucking forgot that they have school on Saturday in P5. Asdfghjkl!

But shit man, if I try to redo my timeline to include this fact,,,I would have to change too much and delete a good part of ch3. Look, I'm done w/ that shit, I already had to redo the timeline once when writing this ch. I ain't doing it again.

We'll just ignore the fact that 4/30/2016 falls on a Saturday, and the other Saturdays they didn't have school on, and that the 1st should not have been a school day in ch3. Like, you didn't even notice. Don't lie to me.

After this chapter tho, I will acknowledge that they have school on Saturday and just,,,let the inconsistencies of this and earlier chapters vibe,,,I,,,I'm not redoing it yo. This story is making my hair thin.))

It seemed that a few of you be thinkin' that Yuuki was the leader of the PT or is taking Joker's place and I just-

I did not think anyone would conclude that. ._.

I know you guys kinda had high hopes for Yuuki being pretty involved with the group, but I've always headcanoned that he doesn't have the ability to summon a persona. He retains the same role as he does in canon, except this time he knows everything and doesn't have Akira acting as the middle man.

I hope you guys like the direction I went with the group. Ann being leader was inspired from this fic: When the Cat Dragged In the Trickster by Raaj which you need to read right now bc it blew my weave off when I first found it. And some daydreams I had about some P5 AU I will never write nor draw.

The art in this chapter was done by moi which is why it's shit. ;)))))

Here's a spolier-ish doddle of Akira and his NPC friends he'll have in this fic. (Again, I can't link on here so find it on the other sites!) I spent 5 seconds on each person, so it's kinda hard to tell who they are, but just in case,,,if you don't want spoilers,,,no clicky then,,, I just wanted to have a height chart ref and was going to throw it away afterwards,,,but I liked how I drew one person so… It lives in my sketchbook now.

I hope you guys are excited for chapter 6 'cuz Futaba will finally be sliding in and I can finally just write Akira chilling,,, Boi needs a break. I've been hurting him too much,,,

You'll finally see some goddamn fluff. ;p

*cracks knuckle* Okay, ya'll know what time it is, it's shameless plug time.

So me irl friend -AAA- has started up a little cute webcomic I think some of ya'll might like? You guys do like cute shit, yeah? It's called Annie & Alex and it's just a little fun Slice of Life webcomic.

You can read it here on his Tumblr, aaa-comics He just started it not too long ago, so there aren't many strip atm.

You can find his Youtube channel here. (Can't link on here!) He makes little music thingies and memes on occasion. Got a minimalist art style about them.

Sent some love his way plz!