Continuing onwards!

"I can't believe you left your phone!" Ann shouts at the fellow blonde. Said blonde softly glared at the two other males at the side.

"I can't believe you lost your Journal." Ryuji grumbled. "What the hell man!? We almost got busted by ms. Prez!"

"Sorry, I didn't know…" Akira said defensively.

"You're lucky I fixed that situation. Here." Ryuji then tossed the book at the bespectacled male. "If prez asks, then it's a story for a videogame you're making."

"Hmm… not a bad idea Monkey." Morgana snided.

"Eff off with the monkey crap, cat."

"Stop calling me a cat!"

"Stop callin' me a damn monkey!"

"NEVER!"

"FOCUS YOU IDIOTS!" Mishima yelled, silencing the two. "Now then, we have more or less 2-3 weeks left before we get expelled, so what do we know about the castle so far?"

"I… may have a theory." Haru chimed in, gaining everyone's attention. "If this school is how Kamoshida sees as his castle and vice versa, then wouldn't it be somewhat logical that it shares the same layout? Or if not, then something similar?"

"..."

"That's actually not that bad of a theory…"

"We'll check over there the next time we get a chance to." Akira announced.

"Wait, we're not going this time?"

"No, we need supplies." Morgana clarified. "Who knows what's going to happen in the palace. It's better if we prepared."

~That reminds me, we need Codenames for you three.~ Arata said, looking at the new thieves.

"Oh, Right." Ryuji snapped his fingers. "Let's see…how abou-"

"If you say something inappropriate, Sakamoto, then I will slap the shit out of you." Ann warned.

"I was going to call you Panther."

"Panther?"

"Yeah, because of your mask and outfit reminds me of one."

~Ryuji's got a point.~

"Well then what about me?" Shiho asked, getting silence for a few seconds before Arata answered.

~Shinobi. You kinda looked like a ninja with extra armor back there.~

"Shinobi… I like the sound of that."

~and for Mishima…~

"No need; I've already picked my name."

"You did?" Akira replied.

"Yep. when we're in the palace, you can call me Akuma."

~Akuma… nice, it fits you… surprisingly.~

"Well with that out of the way." Ryuji interrupted. "Let's get back to supplies. I think we should split up for buying stuff."

"Wow, Ryuji, you're on fire with these ideas today." Akira complimented.

"Thanks. Anyways, there's 8 of us, so we'll split up into 2 groups. Akira, Arata, Morgana and I'll secure some gear. You four can buy provisions and healing items."

"Healing… items?" Haru asked.

"Basically buy some generic medicine and first aid stuff." Morgana clarified. "They work a lot differently in the metaverse."

"Ah, I see."

"Well then, let's break for now. I'm beat." Ryuji yawned, "we'll start our gear hunt tomorrow."

Nodding at this, the group called their first meeting an went their separate ways, none of them noticing Makoto, who was hiding, at all.

"Videogame my ass… just what are you lot up too…" Makoto mused.

Sunday January 17th

Cloudy

Leblanc's

Evening

Arriving at Leblanc's once more, Sojiro greeted the group with the same routine. A minute or two later, the group of three arrived to their room and set off into sleep.

…

…

…..

Waking up once more to the sounds of chains, Both Arata and Akira found themselves in the same prison like velvet room. The three residents stared at the two.

"We meet again, Trickster and friend." "Igor" greeted.

~so we did, hunchback.~

"Quiet you!" Caroline snarled.

"You may be wondering why I have summoned you here, correct? I have noticed that you have acquired a massive addition to your team. So allow me to congratulate you first and foremost. It seems you have remembered my words. You truly make it worth rehabilitating you."

"What do you mean…" Akira deadpanned.

~We still have questions.~

"I am not attempting to withhold information from you." He chuckled. "The essence of the rehabilitation that you must complete will be explained in due time. "Once you discover allies who share your aesthetics and discover your place in reality… only then will I explain it all."

"And from the looks of it, you two may get that explanation sooner than you think." Caroline chimed in.

"We were quite surprised when it happened as well." Justine added. "It is pretty rare to experience multiple awakenings at once."

"It's kinda strange though… one of them didn't awaken yet."

"... that must be Haru…" Akira whispered.

~seems like it, she's the only one without a persona…~

"Indeed, I would suggest that you aid in her awakening, lest she becomes more of a liability than an ally." "Igor" addresses. "It would be a shame if one of your confidants met their demise so soon."

~we'll get right on that.~

"Please see to it that you do. Now girls, bring out the equipment. It is time we introduce them to the aid we are providing." nodding at the command, the two tiny wardens left the room somehow, confusing the two inmates. That confusion grew with a slight hint of fear when they came back with two guillotines and a chainsaw.

~what is that!? What the fuck is that!?~

"Uuuuh…" akira stammered.

"You need not worry Trickster, this is purely for our method of the privilege I'm giving to you; the power of fusion." the hunchback clarified. "Due to your power of the wild card, you are able to wield more than one persona. That power holds infinite possibilities, we will assist you in nurturing that potential. Caroline will lead the charge for this facility for you. Caroline?"

"Yes sir." she saluted, turning to the two. "Alright listen up inmates, because I'm NOT repeating myself."

~fine, fine. What's all this for Carol?~

"Stop calling me- you know what, nevermind." she shook her head frustratingly. "Fusion is pretty simple in execution; you take two persona and we'll merge them into a new one. Justine and I'll go over the basic rundown on the fused one before the fusion, so you won't be completely blind to what you'll get."

"Be aware though that the process is not guaranteed to work successfully. There is a chance that you may get a completely different one by accident." Justine added.

~oh great, so not even you guys know what we'll get completely…~

"Those odds are very rare, however, so you need not worry for the time being."

"Well that's reassuring."

"Let's do this already. You do have more persona, don't you?" Caroline said, looking expectantly. Opening up his hand, Akira focused on his palm as two white masks appeared above it, orbiting around each other.

"Will these do?" Akira asked, handing the two persona over to the wardens.

"Yeah, this'll work. Let's see… a pixie and a bicorn, huh?"

"This will grant you the persona Shiisaa." Justine walked over to the two inmates and showed them her clipboard, a flash of light later, and a picture of the persona in question, along with various information on it, appeared on the front page.

"Hmm… this could work nicely… but."

"What's the problem!? You have the requirements, so what's stopping you?" Caroline shouts.

~we're a little put off by the instruments of death you're standing next to.~

"Are you two okay with this?" Akira asks.

"Of course we a-"

~not you two; Pixie and Bicorn.~

"What? Of course they are!"

"I just want to make sure. I want their consent before i go through with this."

"Of course master. I told you I'd help out, and I'm gonna help no matter what."the voice of pixie echoed into his mind, followed by Bicorn's voice as well. "As I have said before, I'll do whatever it takes for master."

~looks like they agree.~

"See!? Now stop polyfoxing and bring them over here already!"

Taking both masks, Justine reunites with her twin as they prepared the fusion process.

~I can't watch…~ Arata covered his eyes, but then peeks out of one of them.

*SSHHHHHKK!*

The sound of metal sliding down and flaying flesh echoed throughout the room, but what shocked to two prisoners were the flash of lights, strong winds blowing through their cell, and a new voice echoing through Akira's mind.

"Me Shiisaa. You have mask... You and me... Don't worry, be happy!" the new voice yipped happily.

"Alright that's how it goes." Caroline shouts. "Simple and fast, so don't bother hesitating."

"A stronger persona has been born from the body and blood of the old, which shall become your new strength." "Igor" added in. "Gather personas and bring them here. Gather them, execute them, and continue to give birth to stronger personas. Developing these powers of your will play an integral role in your stand against ruin."

"So that your rehabilitation goes well, we have a variety of rituals to choose from regarding execution." Justine continued, Caroline followed soon after.

"And depending on your efforts our master might consider further development of new rituals for you to use. Go on and cry for joy inmates"

~yeah, we get it kid.~

"Who're you calling a KID!?" Caroline hissed ferally, somewhat triggered by the short jab.

~I'm callin' you a kid, midget.~

"WHAT DID YOU CALL ME COW FUCKER!"

~language, child! You deserve a time out little missy!~

"Oh you are DEA-"

"CAROLINE!""ARATA!" Both Akira and Justine shouts, silencing the two bickering beings.

"Hmm, it seems that this might be more entertaining than I thought." "Igor" chuckled lightly at the events unfolding. "That being said, I have a gift that I have prepared a gift for you. I hope that you shall accept it." A black orb of light appeared in front of Akira and phased into his body, a feeling of strength coursed through his soul. "You now have the ability to see things that are normally invisible to the common eye; a third eye, if you will. That is all I wish to speak to you about for now, there is one more thing I wish to say, but you'll find that out very soon."

"I don't like the sound of that…"

~I'm pretty sure that's an understatement…~

Both sighed as the world around them faded into darkness, the last they saw were three mischievous smirks.

Monday 18th

Cloudy

Shujin academy

After school

After spending the entirety of sunday getting model guns and weapons, some light armor and accessories, and reuniting with the others who got loads of their supplies, the group of eight survived through the seemingly endless classes for the whole school day. Now that school was over, the group of eight stood by the entrance of the school, hiding to the side of the building. A few moments later, they were now back at the front of the palace.

"Alright, let's get to work!" Skull shouts.

~wait a minute!~ Reaper said, grabbing Skull by the collar. ~aren't you forgetting something?~

"Huh… OH right!" Skull jumps, handing over a tommy gun to Panther. "Here ya go."

"We got these for surprisingly cheap." Joker added, handing Akuma a set of Tonfa, Noir a battle axe, and Shinobi a small crossbow.

~now that you all are sufficiently armed… NOW we can get to work.~

"Just to be safe, we'll break off into two teams." Mona joined in. "it'll be a nightmare to manage eight people at once, so we'll split up into a vanguard and rearguard."

"So we're splitting up?" Panther asked.

"Not entirely; four of us will lead the charge in exploration, while the others will follow behind a good distance away."

"Hmm… sounds good." Akuma nodded, a few minutes of deciding later, Joker, Skull, Mona and Reaper decided to lead the vanguard since they knew more about the place than the others.

"Alright, let's head on out." Joker said, the group now entering the palace ahead.

...

...

2 hours and 45 minutes, that's how long they explored the palace, after going around, solving random puzzles, obtaining more persona and loot, and fighting… something that looks like a slimy penis tip (WHERE'S THE BRAIN BLEACH!?), the group finally, finally made it to the last room of the whole palace.

"Okay, this is the last place we didn't check. Let's go on inside." Skull shouts, Mona climbing to his face and pulling his hair back to get him away from the door.

"Not through the front door, Monkey! We need a different way in." the cat creature chastises the pirate themed thief.

"What about that opening above?" Noir suggested, pointing to the statue at the side, an opening on top.

"See, that's how a phantom thief thinks!"

"Yeah yeah, no need to rub it in cat." Skull complained, growling as the cat claws his ear. As the group climbed up the place, they found a hidden platform for them to stand on, looking down at the main hallway, they sighed in relief when they saw most of the hall littered with guards, the Shadow king yelling at them.

"Oh man, we sure dodged a bullet there." Skull whispered, "Can't believe I'm sayin' this to the cat of all things, but… thanks for stoppin' me."

"No problem, just try not to jump into stuff without thinking first, as impossible as that is for you." Mona quipped.

"Ya see… this is why I don't like complimenting ya."

"We're almost there." Joker interrupted, pointing at the door behind the king. "That must be where it is."

~well let's get going then.~ Reaper chimed in, the group sneaking past the army of guards and the bickering King. silently opening the door without alerting them, the group slinked inside, gobsmacked at the sight before them.

Gold, treasure, jewels, the whole room they were in was filled with the sea of valuables, and in the very middle was a weird glowing blob, floating in place at the very core of the room.

"Holy Crap!" Akuma shouts, awestruck by the amount of rare items around him. "I'll be set for life if I sell even a few pocketfuls of this stuff!"

"It's amazing." Shinobi added. "Yet oddly disgusting at the same time."

"It's KamoSHITa's crap, remember!?" Skull argued. "Of course it's disgusting to look at. Pfft, I bet that some of it's fake anyways."

~I'm more curious about the blobby thing here than anything.~ Reaper addressed, pointing at the obvious out of place object of the room. ~Hey, Mona? You know anything about this?~

"Ah HAH! This is it!" Said cat thief grinned cheekily. "This is what we've came for."

~a floating blob of nothing?~

"Wha- no. this IS the treasure we seek, now we can initiate phase 2."

"Phase 2?" everyone questioned in sync.

"Right now, we can't steal it since it's technically not here. Desires have no physical form by nature, but if we convince the person that their desire's are in fact a treasure, then we can make it so that we can steal it."

~right… and how do we do that exactly?~

"We warn him." Mona answered simply. "Once they're conscious that their desires might be stolen, the treasure will show itself in response. We'll tell them, "We're going to steal your heart." or something like that."

"Oooh, like a calling card?" Noir added in, Mona nodding eagerly.

"Precisely!"

"Aw hell yeah! That's totally what a phantom thief would do!" Skull whooped.

"Once we do that, the treasure will appear for certain!"

"Then our infiltration route is secure!" Shinobi announced. "Let's head back and plan our next course of action for now."

"Right."

"Just be prepared for anything. Once we send the calling card, there's no going back."

Back in the real world, the group decided to hang out in a local cafe nearby after their success in finding a route. Noticing Haru sitting a bit of a ways away form the group, Arata floated over to the girl.

~Hey, Haru, You alright?~ He asked.

"Hmm? Oh, I'm fine."

~you sure? You could always tell us.~

"I know… it's just…" trailing off, she handed over a few skill slips to the godling, confusion grew on the boy's face. "I used them all up again…"

~if that's what's bothering you, then I could always make more…~

"No, no, it's not that. It's…"

~it's…..~

"Am I really providing for the team? With the limited amount of slips you give me, it's only a matter of time before…"

~hey, hey now, don't go beating yourself up from that.~ Arata cuts off, not liking where that route was going. ~you're still a vital part of this team, just like the rest of us.~

"But for how much longer!?" she whispered loudly. "I'm not like you all, I don't have much to protect myself, let alone everyone else… Morgana almost died because I ran out and had to get more…"

~...~

"If I'm just going to be a burden when I run out of usefulness, then I-"

~come with me.~ he announced, rising.

"W-wha?"

~hey, Kira. I'm taking Haru out for a tiny bit.~ he shouts at the group, the raven haired leader nodded. ~come on.~ He said simply, floating out the door with a confused (and slightly worried) Haru behind him.

Once outside, Arata gestured for her to sit near one of the outer tables. Sitting down, Haru gazed expectantly, like an anxious child anticipating some sort of punishment.

~So, you think you're useless because we have powers and you don't?~

"What!? No, it's not exactly like that-"

~but you're not completely denying it either.~

"..."

~it's alright. I'm gonna fix that. Now, close your eyes.~

Unknowing of what's going on, she did as was told. Arata then placed his hand on her chest as he held one of hers on his chest.

~I am thou, Thou art I...

I grant thou the key to thy soul…

Thy potential shall bring forth a new power…

I grant though the tiara of the Empress…

To which thou shall create a new prosperous future…~

A pink light shone around her body as several objects, and even Haru herself, began to rise from the ground, her very irises glowed an eerie pink as several items orbited around the two. When the light faded, Haru looked up at the godling with a weirdly new feeling deep within herself.

"W-what just happened!?" she yells, looking around her.

~I have awakened a piece of your full potential; you now have power over psychokinesis.~

"Psycho...kinesis?"

~you know… like telepathy, psychic power, levitation. All that jazz…~

"Really?"

~yep, now you're one of us. Speaking of which, i'm gonna have to borrow you, Ryuji and Morgana this weekend…~

"... wow.."

~all you have to do is ask, and we'll help. That's what friends do.~

"Friends… I… thank you. For this power… for everything…"

~whoa there, I didn't save your life, I just improved it.~

"With this gift you gave me, it might as well have… so thank you… I'll make sure I won't be a burden anymore." she smiled at him, to which he smile back. A familiar feeling grew within himself and Arata heard a feminine voice.

I am thou, thou art I…

Thou has acquired a new vow…

It shall be the wings of rebellion,

That breaketh thy chain of captivity…

With the birth of the Empress arcana,

I have obtained the winds of blessing that

Shall lead to freedom and new power…

"Hey Arata, we're just about ready to head out!" Akira shouts, the group joining the two outside.

~Okay cool.~ Arata shouts back. ~Just remember, you, Ryuji and Morgana. Meet me at the school roof on Saturday.~

"Okay…" Haru nodded, the group went their separate ways afterwards.

After making back to Leblanc's and following the same routine, Akira checked his phone for the new message that pinged him a few seconds prior.

Ryu: you guys home yet? I'm pooped.

Ryu: it hit me like a goddamn ton of bricks when I sat down…

Yuuki: same here. Mom thought I was in a fight when she saw me collapse in the living room.

Floof: are you alright?

Yuuki: yeah, I'm fine. Told her that i overworked myself.

Ann: well, we did do a whole bunch in the palace…

Shiho: it's no surprise that we're exhausted. I just never expected it to be this much…

Ann: glad we've found that treasure though…

Ryu: so, just to be clear, Kamoshita'll turn a new leaf if we steal the rainbow fart cloud?

Floof: rainbow fart cloud?

Yuuki: it's up to you when we send the card, Akira.

Ann: call us over to the hideout when you're ready.

RenRen: got it. Nice work everyone.

Yuuki: OH, one more thing I found out.

Floof, Ryu, and Ann: what?

Yuuki: there's gonna be a new student coming tomorrow, i think her name's Kasumi… something…

Shiho: oh no…

Ryu: shit, if this newcomer's a girl then that means Kamoshita's gonna have a NEW target if we don't hurry...

RenRen: we'll find out more on her, you guys just get ready for tomorrow.

Putting up his phone, the three now got ready for bed.

Tuesday, 19th

Rainy

Shujin Academy

Noon

Akira, Arata and Morgana all have noticed something mainly off about today… first off, the godling noticed that they were being tailed by Makoto Nijima practically everywhere since they got to the building. The only time they managed to lose her was when they went to the restrooms. Second, when they got to the homeroom, Kawakami looked at them with this odd look of pity, worry and… admiration? They were stumped as to why she gave them that look in the first place, well, Morgana and Arata were talking about it in the corner of the room since Kawakami couldn't really see them.

"Alright students, listen up. We have a new student coming today." Kawakami announced, gaining everyone's attention and whispers began flooding the room. "Now I want you all be welcoming to our new addition. You may come in now." she said, the door sliding open seconds later. The newcomer was a sight to behold. A red haired female, whose hair was tied in a ponytail, walked up to the board and wrote her name on it, then turned and introduced herself.

"Hello everyone. I'm Kasumi Yoshizawa. I hope we can get along." the girl, now named Kasumi, stated. Even more whispers echoed around the room.

"Alright, alright. Settle down." Kawakami shouted, calming the growing rumor-storm. "You can take a seat next to… Kurusu's… desk." she then sweatdropped at the fact that the ONLY other empty seat in the entire class was side by side with Akira's. This did nothing but start more rumors.

~Oh for fuck's sake, this is getting ridiculous.~ Arata groans, floating next to Akira. ~we get it, you lemmings hate our guts, get over yourselves.~

Walking over to the empty desk, Kasumi sat down and class continued as normal… well, as normal as you can get with the new girl slightly staring at the air a few times.

Several classed later, Akira, Arata and Morgana was about to make it over to the rooftop, when Kasumi walked up to them.

"Hey, Akira, isn't it?" she asked. "May I have a moment of your time?"

"Uhh… sure?" Akira replied, curious at the new girl's sudden question. Following her to a higher floor, the two ended up stopping at the library.

~oh, that reminds me, hey kira, mind getting some books on wind, electricity and hypnotism?~

"Why do you need that?" Morgana whispered at the godling.

~you'll know why later on.~

"Okay, here we are." Kasumi stated, taking out a black book from the shelf and reading it.

"Uumm." Akira looked on in confusion, which grew when Kasumi gave him a bottle of water.

"It's not really holy water, but it might work." Kasumi announced, before taking out a piece of paper and copied symbols from the black book she was reading.

"What are yo-" was all Akira said before she slapped the slip of scribbles on his chest. Nothing happened.

~what is happening right now?~

"I-it didn't work!?" she yipped, distraught that her two attempts failed so far. "Why is it still there.."

"Just what are you talking about?"

"You can see it too, right?"

"See?" Akira asked.

~it?~

"The ghost floating beside you… you can see it too?"

~ghost? What ghost?~ Arata questioned, looking over to Akira. ~Kira, did you summon ghosts behind my back?~

"It knows your name?"

"What are you-..." Akira stopped abruptly, slowly turning to Arata as he slowly pointed to him. "You mean Arata?"

~hmm?~

"You named the ghost!?"

~... WHAT!? I'm Not a Gho-... oooooh crap.~

Looking at her with wide eyes, Akira stood there stunned as Kasumi took his silence as a yes.

"So you can see the ghost! Oh thank god I wasn't going crazy."

~Hey, I resent that!~

"Silence, spectral menace, I'm going to free this guy from your-"

"He's not a ghost." was all the male said to stop her in her tracks.

"I- It's not?" she retorted. "How is it NOT a ghost? Just who and/or what is it then?"

~First off, I'm a boy. Second, I'm Arata, A-RA-TA.~

"And third, he's a godling."

"A… godling?"

"A young god." a sudden ping vibrated the phone in his pocket. "Crap. I'll talk to you later about that. It was nice meeting you Yoshizawa." the two then fled the library quietly, leaving a stunned Kasumi pondering the current events. Unbeknownst to the three, a third person overheard everything.

"Arata… godling… what's going on…" Makoto whispered as she followed Akira out the library.

Opening the door to the roof, the three people reunited with the rest of the group.

"Took ya long enough. Where were you man?" Ryuji asked first.

"Sorry, we just had a… surprising visit with the new girl."

~she thought I was a ghost…~ Arata grumbled to himself.

"We get it." Morgana groaned at the godling.

"Wait, what happened?"

"Apparently, Kasumi, the new girl in our class, can see Arata… somehow…" Akira clarified.

"Shit, that's bad. What if someone finds out because she snitched on him?"

"Don't worry, I'll focus on that later. Right now, Kamoshida takes priority."

"Right! So, who's gonna send the calling card?" Morgana asked. "All that's left is to make it and send it. Then comes the hard part."

"Couldn't we have just sent one beforehand?" Ryuji asked.

"It's not that simple. A treasure won't stay materialized for long, once the impressions gone, then the treasure will disappear for good. I think it'll last around a day at most."

"That's going to be a tough spot, considering we have all this free time on our hands…" Shiho added.

"So we send it out in the morning, then at the end of the day, we carry out the plan… does that work?" Ann suggested.

"Correct, the effect won't last that long. Are you worried?" Morgana quipped, looking at Ryuji in particular.

"What'cha starin' at cat?"

"Stop it with the cat name, monkey!"

"Stop with the monkey crap cat!"

"Not this again." Mishima said, bonking both of them on the head.

"We'll pull this off, no matter what!" Ann shouts, a firm resolve in her voice that echoed onto the other as well.

"So, who's gonna write it?" Morgana asked, nurturing the slight bump on his head.

"Ooh, Ooh, let me make it!" Ryuji exclaimed.

"Why?"

"Why?... why wouldn't it be me!?"

"This is important. Are you sure you can handle the pressure?"

~Hey, have at least some faith in Ryuji.~

"Yeah, He may be a bit hot headed at times, but he knows what he's doing when he focuses." Haru defended as well.

"I must agree on Ann on this one." Morgana said.

~that's only because you have a cat boner for- AGH~ that was all Arata said before Morgana pounced on his head.

"I really wanna get him good! Lemme write it… c'mon, please?"

"..."I'm counting on you Ryuji." Akira nodded, making the blonde male whop with glee as the others looked to the leader in confusion.

"Really?" Ann asked.

"Yes, really, Ryuji's suffered just as much as we have, and this will act as some form of closure for him, as well as you three."

"Hell yeah!" You can count on me!"

"You better not making it so that we'll get caught." Mishima added in.

"I know, I know!"

"Alright then, tomorrow it is! You better not slack off on this, Monkey." Morgana warned.

"I'm in too good a mood to kick your cat ass off the roof for that, but yeah, I'll make this good!"

~Call Kira when you're done with it. Morgana and I'll post it up before school starts.~

"Cool."

"Alright, meeting adjourned." Akira said, closing the short meeting, none of them noticed the door slightly ajar, with a new face peeking through, that suddenly closed.

"Hey, Sakamoto?" Kawakami asked, gaining Ryuji's attention as the day closes out. "I wanted to speak with you for a minute."

"Huh… Oh sure thing, Ms. K. what's up?"

"I was wondering If you were interested in a proposition I'm willing to make."

"Hmm… depends, what type of proposition?"

"Extra credit for miscellaneous assignments."

"... huh?"

"Allow me to explain… you see, I've noticed that your grades, while still barely passable, are gradually increasing while you're with Akira, Ann and their friends… at first I thought you were gonna be a bad influence and turn them into delinquents, but it looks like the opposite is happening instead."

"Uh-huh…"

"So… since I kinda felt bad for thinking that way, and I wanted to help you increase your grades even further, consider this as a half apology/half assignment."

"Hmm… to be honest, you didn't really have to go that far for an apology, I'm used to being on the short end of the stick."

"But I want to help you out. If not for the apology, then will you do it for your education?"

"... sure thing. What's the assignment, Ms. K?"

"Splendid, I want you to make an essay or detailed list on what you're strengths and weakness are. Like what are you good in and what do you lack. It should at least be one full page long, but you can add more if you like." she said, handing him a paper clip bounded sheet. "The extra pages are printed sheets I made to help you out as well."

"Wow, thanks Ms. K."

"No problem, Sakamoto, and sorry again… for being ignorant this whole time…"

"It's fine, I forgive you. At least you apologized for it." Ryuji answered, one more exchange of commentary and the two went their separate ways, Ryuji then looked at the slips of paper, and found something surprising hidden amongst them, a red slip of paper reading:

Make a short paragraph using the following words once: Kamoshida, Tyrant, Lust, Perversion, Wicked, Steal, Lives. And Victims.

Example: Dear Kamoshida, the _ Tyrant of Lust.

This will Not be graded, and you must keep this to yourself. Post it up tomorrow, then bring your friends to me at lunch.

-Kawakami.

Slightly panicking for a slight moment, Ryuji put two and two together and somewhat chalked it up to Her having a hatred for Kamoshida as well. Wanting to help out his fellow Kamoshita hater, he took the red paper and stuck it in his pocket, taking top priority.

Wednesday, 20th

Cloudy

Shujin Academy

Morning

As soon as everyone came by this morning, they were confronted by a rather large crowd of students murmuring and whispering to each other. Looking at the red cards strewn about, Ann read it aloud for the group to hear.

"Dear Suguru Kamoshida, the Bastard Tyrant of Lust. Your unforgivable perversion has destroyed the lives of your victims who couldn't fight back and stole their chances of having a life. This wicked act of your desires will not go unpunished. Consider your sins forfeit as we steal your heart. Signed, the Phantom thieves of hearts…"she read aloud.

"...What." Mishima started.

"The…" Haru continued.

~yeah, Morgana and I were just as impressed and confused.~

"Hey guys, over here." Ryuji shouts, gaining the group's attention.

"Alright, spill it Sakamoto, what exactly was that?" Ann said walking up the the blonde male.

"What? Did I do badly?"

~no, quite the opposite in fact, I knew you could do it man.~

"It's just… I wasn't expecting something like THAT coming from you of all people…"

"Well, I had a bit of help…"

"Spill, Ryuji."

"There's bad news too…"

~oh god, what did you do?~

"Nothin' I swear! I don't know how, when or why but…"

"But what?" Akira prodded on.

"Ms. K knows."

~Ms. K who-... Kawakami?~

"Yep, she hid this with some extra credit papers she gave me when she pulled me back for a few minutes. Said this was for an apology of being ignorant." Ryuji explained, pulling out the red slip and passing it around the group.

"Oh, man… we're so screwed." Mishima whimpered.

~Not entirely… there may be a chance this might work out.~

"How exactly will that work out!?"

~If she wanted to screw with us, then she'd either blackmail us with what she knows, or snitch on us the second she found out, and considering that nobody's the wiser about our *Activity* it's safe to assume that she didn't do either…~

"Well, we can discuss that with her at lunch, she wants to talk to us there."

"Let's focus on that later, about that calling card…" Akira said, diverting the conversation. "Even though you had help from Kawakami, it's still impressive."

"Yeah, I didn't want to screw everyone over, so I had to restrain myself a bit."

"I'm surprised you even know what half of those words are monkey."

"Not today cat, this is serious!"

"Ok, enough razzin' on Ryuji." Mishima finished. "The target just arrived."

"WHO IS RESPONSIBLE FOR THIS!?" on cue, Kamoshida stomped over to the pinned board and ripped one of the calling cards off, causing the crowd to scatter. "WAS IT YOU!? OR MAYBE YOU!"

~Geez, shout louder why don't you…~

"A predictable response." Morgana quipped quietly.

Looking at the group, who did a very good job of acting like they just got here, the PE teacher stomped over to the group. Not noticing the godling slinking behind Mishima for a flashdrive in his pocket, Arata zipped past the group, leaving the furious man to Akira and friends.

"It was you lot, wasn't it?!"

"What're you talking about?" Akira answered convincingly.

"We just got here and you're already having a bitchy fit!?" Ryuji followed up, acting as he was accused of something false.

"So you're playing dumb?"

"The only dumb one is the person assuming stuff for no reason."

"Grr… it's not a problem. You'll all be expelled anyway." a sound of static filled the thieves ears as the world faded to black suddenly, Shadow kamoshida taking the real one's place, which surprised the whole group.

"Come… steal it if you can!" Shadow Kamoshida hissed ferally.

The world returned to normal as Kamoshida stormed off. Just then, Arata reunited with the group, flash drive in hand.

~I'm back.~

"Where were you?" Haru asked.

~5… 4...3...2..~ he counted down, just then, sounds of pings filled the area as many phone sounds went off. Taking out their phones, Akira and Ryuji smirked at the message with a video link.

"Is this…" mishima trailed off.

~Oooh yeah. Our red-herring's up and everyone in the school's got the message.~

"Cool!, let's get ready for ms. K, then we go on and finish what we started." Ryuji exclaimed, getting affirmative responses from the group.

"Thank you for coming Ryuji, and to all of you as well…" Kawakami started, the group of 6 sitting in front of her with their lunches in hand.

"So, let's get to the real business; you know something.." Ryuji answered.

"...yes."

"What do you know about us exactly?"

"... remember a few days prior when you left your phone?"

"... Oh shit.."

"RYUJI!" Ann growled at the male.

"That's part of the reason why I wanted to apologize. But that's not what I want to talk about."

"It isn't?" Akira chimed in.

"No; I want in on your little plan."

…

…

…~WHAT!?~

this proceeded to throw everyone in for a loop, with Kawakami relishing everyone's expression of disbelief.

"I've known that man for god knows how long, and I never knew his insidious acts until recently. I always thought that Kamoshida being a bad man were just rumors spread by Sakamoto here. But…"

"You saw our evidence and found out the truth." Akira finished off.

"And i'd like to apologize again for that invasion of privacy."

"It's fine."

"WHAT!?" Everyone except Ryuji, Morgana and Arata shouts back.

~this proves that she wanted something. And look at the silver linings here. Not only do we have a Teacher, who can help with calling cards and making quick escapes from the classroom, but we don't have to worry about her snitching us out.~

"...True." Morgana agreed, "but isn't this going by a bit too fast?"

~nope. Tell her we'll welcome her aboard. Besides, the more the merrier.~

"Alright, how about this." Akira stated. "IF you don't rat us out about our… activities, and promise to help us out in the future, then we'll let you in. sounds good?"

"Perfect."

"What about you guys?" he then asked the rest of the group.

"I'm fine with it." Ryuji answered.

After a long silence, the others slowly agree to these terms.

"Alright, welcome to the team Ms. K!"

"So… what happens now?" Kawakami asks. "I can assume that this Message from the principal, was actually from you all, but what do we do, call the police?" looking at each other, Arata and Akira smirked and nodded at each other, the others following suit.

~we're gonna have to tell her sooner or later…~

Hours later, the school was officially out, and the group of eight plus Kawakami met outside the schoolyard.

"So… this treasure that you all have to steal, this whole stunt you pulled this morning made it appear?" Kawakami asked.

"Yep." Ryuji answered.

"And it can be stolen today?"

"It's not just "today," it's ONLY today." Morgana said, Akira repeating this to the teacher.

~she's gonna need these.~ Arata said, giving Akira four bundles of skill slips. ~Haru and Kawakami don't have persona, and this was the last batch of paper Ryuji gave me, so you guys have to make them count.~

"Here, you're need these." Akira said, handing Haru and Kawakami two stacks each.

"What are these for?"

"You'll see." Ryuji said, speaking the codewords as the world distorts into the familiar castle.

"W-What!? What Happened!? Where's the school!?"

~This place Is the school.~

"Yeah, this is what Kamoshida thinks of the whole place."

Looking downwards, Kawakami freaked out even more at the sight of Arata and Morgana.

"A Monster cat and a ghost!?"

~Why the hell am I called a Ghost!?~

"Monstercat!? Again!?"

"Focus everyone!" Mishima shouts.

"Right, here we use codenames! For now, you're K." Ryuji announces. "In here, call me Skull, Akira's Joker, the floating one-"

~Arata.~

"Is named Reaper, Ann's Panther, Shiho's Shinobi, Mishima's Akuma and the cat's Mona."

"Call me a cat again, monkey, see what happens!"

"Oh my god, a talking cat… and a floating guy." K repeated, lost in her own world.

"Let's go! We're running out of time! Right!

Backtracking through the castle, whilst thanking whoever or whatever managed to teleport them between saferooms, the group of nine all managed to make it to the treasure room.

"Alright K, you be on the lookout out here. Hide just like I taught you and strike when they're distracted." Mona repeated for the third time.

"And what will you do?"

"We'll go in and steal the treasure. If things get too hairy, then climb up here and alert us."

"Got it." K nodded and slinked into the shadows.

~alright everyone, let's go!~ rounding the corner, the group was surprised that the throne room ahead was wide open, with seemingly nobody in sight.

"Red flag, Red flags everywhere!" Akuma shouts.

"The hell? Nobody's here!" Skull added.

"Let's just get what we came for and get out of here!" Mona answered, the thieves entering the treasure room behind the throne, only to gawk at the human sized crown that took the cloud blob's place.

"THIS is the treasure!?" Panther shouts. "It's Huge!"

~nobody make a joke about that.~

"HaHA! The treasure revealed itself, now let's take it and get out of here." Mona proclaimed.

"We have to CARRY this thing?" Noir retorted.

"Ahh… this shine brings tears to my eyes…"

~eh… Mona? You ok there?~

"I-Is he purring?" Shinobi wondered at the practically vibrating cat creature in front of them.

"T-Treasure…"

~Mona?~

"Uh, the cat's acting awfully excited…" Skull says, said cat in question jumped up and grasped the giant crown, his purring louder than before.

"Meeeeooooow!" Mona meowed in his own little world as he glomped the treasure he was on. "Mrrrrow!"

~the damn crown's not catnip cat!~

"You're way too excited." Joker quipped, peeling the cat off the treasure and snapping him out of his trance.

"Alright, that's enough, stupid cat.." Skull added in.

"Nghh… huh? Oh umm..." Looking away embarrassed, Mons squeaked and stepped back a bit. "Um.. forgive me for doing such an insolent act in front of ladies…"

"You were completely out of character too, what just happened?" Panther asked.

"I couldn't stop it either… to think I'd be drawn to human desires so much…"

"Well it's weird that you suddenly did that."

"A-anyways, you guys have to carry it."

~why us!?~

"I'm too short to do it!"

~That's no excuse.~

"Let's just take it and go." Akuma said, lifting part of the crown with ease.

The others following suit, Joker, Skull, Akuma and reaper all carried the crown out the room.

"Go,go, Let's Go, Kamoshida!" a mysteriously familiar voice echoed behind them.

~the fuck was that?~ suddenly, something knocked the whole crown off the male's hands as it rolled over to none other than Shadow Kamoshida himself.

~Oh god no, it's Speedoman!~

"Kamoshita!" Skull yelled.

"I won't let you all take this, This proves that I am the king of this castle- it's the core of this world!" the shadow king sneered.

~Look, we took that thing fair and square. Just… shut up and give it back.~

"That Rat bastard… that's how he sees me isn't it?!" Panther yelled out.

"Wait… where's K?"

"And next time, try not to send an expendable bitch as your scout." with a snap of his fingers, several guards kicked K towards the group with several small injuries.

"K!" Akuma shouts.

"Yo, Pervert. You were waitin' to ambush us?" Skull shouted.

"I just made it easier to find you lot. I'll dispose of you myself. Right here, right now." Kamoshida said.

"That's our line, you sexually harassing bastard!" Shinobi Shouts out in rage.

"What a selfish misunderstanding."

~how's this a misunderstanding!?~

"Everyone else kept it a secret, not me." he went on. "Adults who want to share in my accomplishments, students with the drive to become winners. They willingly protect me, so that we all profit from it."

"Profit?" K said, slowly rising in pain.

"K, are you alright?" Noir asked, helping her up.

"There are too many imbeciles who don't understand that!, including you all."

"Yeah, well if the intellectuals are anything like you, then I'd rather not understand it. We don't need your tacky ass to live our lives!" Skull roared.

"Silence peasants! there's no wrong in using MY gifts for MY gain! I'm a cut above all others!"

"Above, you mean beneath!" Panther retorted. "You're a goddamn demon obsessed with your sick desires!"

Chuckling at this, Kamoshida slowly began to rise up from the floor, a dark aura forming around him. "That's right. I'm not like you…" He said, his voice distorting in a more demonic form. "I am a demon, who Rules this world!" He roared, morphing into a horrific monstrosity before them.

"Ah crap." Joker said, the demon thing whiplashed them all with its tongue, throwing them all back. Slowly rising up, he looked on as the demon cackles maniacally as it crawled towards the thieves.

(Ost: Battle Hymn of the Soul start)

"Hello." the sudden voice of Igor echoed in his mind before everything went white. Opening his eyes once more, he was face to face with Philemon and the grey butterfly on the desk in front of him.

"Greetings trickster… it seems that you are in quite the predicament." Philemon addressed.

"Yeah… we were just about to fight it actually." Akira replied.

"Well then, allow us to aid as well. Remember the Inhibitor Ring I gave you?" Igor answered as Joker nodded. "Put it on, and repeat what I say."

Back to the rest of the group! Joker shot up suddenly, alerting the rest of the inhabitants, and raised his fist with the Inhibitor ring equipped and shouts.

"Reaper! Arsene! Synchronize!" all of a sudden, Reaper glowed a sheen of rainbow light as he was rapidly being sucked into the ring, Arsene, who materialized at the call of his name, followed suit, and both swirled into the piece of jewelry as a flash of black and red engulfed Joker.

Cliffhanger!

Like review and all that jazz, part 2's gonna take a while. I gotta give some of my other fics some love as well.

TBC