Upon returning to Ren's room in Leblanc, Ren, Ryuji, Morgana, and Sumire had to quickly explain the situation to their friends who were glad they were save, but angry they were gone for so long with no word or warning. After listening to the story, they needed a moment to process it. "I see…" Yusuke was the first one to speak. "You're saying you entered the Metaverse with Alice Hiiragi's invitation and met with a sentient AI named Sophia, who is now in your phone."
With the tone Yusuke had, it sounded like he didn't believe them. "When you put it that way, it makes us sound crazy!"
"Luckily I can still tell that they're telling the truth." Hifumi placed her hands in her lap. "I suppose the power to tell truth and lies doesn't go away with the Metaverse. I can vouch for them. It seems like too farfetched a story to make up."
"That still works? Wow, that's helpful." Ren said with a sigh of relief.
"We know what none of us would make something like this up." Makoto added. "However, there's a chance this Sophia may know more about this situation than we do. Is she still with you? Can we meet her?"
"I think she's in my phone…" Sumire said, propping her phone up at the edge of the table so everyone would have a view of what was about to happen. "Um, Sophia? Can you come out here?" The phrasing was being used in the loosest way possible.
A second later, Sophia popped up on the screen. "Yo, Phantom Thieves." And as the three predicted, the others were utterly shocked at what they were looking at.
"W-W-W-W-What is that…!?" Futaba gasped in awe.
"I am Sophia, humanity's companion." Sophia introduced herself.
"That…is Sophia?" Hifumi wasn't sure what she was expecting. This was not it.
"Wow…I can't believe this is happening." Haru's tone held the disbelief her expression wore. She was nearly speechless at this development.
"Is this some sort of hideout? There seem to be a number of Phantom Thieves here." Sophia inquired before humming a specific tune to herself.
"Is she…humming to herself?" Ann had many questions, but somehow this was the only one that came out.
"What in heaven…" Yusuke was just as floored as everyone else. But it was for a completely different reason. "Such an adorable design. I can feel the charm, the pain, the tenacity within!"
"Wait, what?" Makoto turned her head to Yusuke, having no idea what he was talking about.
"So, yes. This is Sophia." Sumire said with a smile.
"I knew she was an AI from your story, but an AI with genuine will is just way too advanced." Futaba was expecting a simple AI, but meeting Sophia for a few minutes blew her expectations out of the water. It was both exciting and a little scary. "Who in the world made her…?"
"You're asking the wrong people…" Morgana said.
"Are you guys gonna stare, or are you gonna introduce yourselves?" Ren asked. He made a good point. They were all staring at Sophia dumbfounded and had yet to give their names, despite the fact she gave hers.
"Oh, right. We're meeting for the first time." Makoto cleared her throat. "I'm Makoto Niijima."
"My name is Haru Okumura. We're both college students. I also help my family's company on the side." Haru said with a smile.
"My name is Hifumi Togo." Hifumi said with a curt nod. "I'm a third year at Kosei-high, and I'm also a shogi player on my way to the professional path."
"Fumi's doing great there, hehe." Ann said, leaning against Hifumi a bit. "I'm Ann Takamaki! I'm a third year in high school, and I do some modeling on the side too."
"My name is Yusuke Kitagawa. I continuously strive to master the arts as we know them." Yusuke said.
Futaba began to sweat a bit. Introducing herself to a new person? Er, well, AI? It was still hard. "S-So it's my turn now, huh? I'm Futaba Sakura, and I suck at socializing, but I wanna be friends and stuff…!" Due to her nervousness, she spoke pretty fast.
"Nah, you did great, Futaba." Ryuji reassured her. "I bet you and Sophia'll be great friends.
"Makoto, Haru, Hifumi, Ann, Yusuke, and Futaba." Sophia repeated. "I'll remember that. You all have much more normal names than Joker, Skull, Violet, and Mona."
"Er…" Sumire rubbed the back of her head. "I suppose we didn't mention that, did we? You see, those are simply our code names in the Metaverse."
"We do that so our enemies won't discover our identities." Mona said. "You can never be too careful. Plus, it gives us that Phantom Thief flare, hehehe…"
"Code names…" Sophia said, curiously.
"My name's actually Ryuji Sakamato." Ryuji gestured to himself. "That's Morgana, she's Sumire Yoshizawa, and that's…"
"I'm Ren Amamiya." Ren introduced himself.
"Okay. I've got it." Sophia replied. Memorizing the names was child's play to her.
"So…are you really a computer program?" This felt surreal to Haru.
"Yes. Would you like to see my source code?" Sophia asked.
"Oh yes yes yes!" Futaba instantly perked up. "Show me, show me!"
"Erm, Futaba-senpai. I don't mean to rain on your parade, but we do have something very serious to talk about concerning the Metaverse." Sumire said politely.
"Oh, yes. The excitement with Sophia nearly made me forget…" Hifumi leaned forward a bit. "What happened to you all, exactly?"
"Tch, where to begin…" Ryuji couldn't stop thinking about Shadow Alice. The way she acted totally pissed him off. "Like we said, Alice was the one runnin' the show. She was callin' herself the queen, bein' all high an' mighty, orderin' Shadows around. All that kinda shit."
"There's no doubt that was the cognitive world…" Morgana said. "And something strange was going on, something that made it different from Palaces. There were people being attacked by Shadows."
"Are you certain?!" Hifumi's eyes went wide. "If that's truly what you saw, that would be extremely problematic…" And that was putting it lightly.
"And…you guys got there through EMMA?" Ann asked. "Doesn't that make it dangerous!?"
"Yeah." Ren said while holding his phone out. "As I said before, Alice was handing out cards with her EMMA keyword on it and gave me one. I put it in, and suddenly we were in the Metaverse again. When we came out, EMMA said we…exited from the jail or something. It kinda feels like the Meta-Nav…"
"But you can uninstall EMMA if you want." Futaba pointed out. "That said, the Meta-Nav was only given to a select few people. Anyone can download EMMA…" Something fishy was definitely going on…
"All we know is that this new place is called a Jail." Sumire said. "Would you all please come with us tomorrow to scout it out again? We were caught off guard before, which is why we got caught. I'd feel much better with our usual numbers."
"That sounds like a solid plan." Yusuke agreed. "There is no point in further deliberation without seeing the place in question for ourselves."
"…I'm also having a hard time believing that Alice would be the ruler of something so sinister as a Palace…or a Jail…" Ann frowned. Hifumi placed her hand on hers gently, and that uplifted her mood slightly.
"The sooner the better." Haru added.
"What's stopping us from getting captured as well?" Makoto did ask a valid question. If the area was different than a Palace, they'd need a safe way in.
"There were no enemies in the vicinity of the exit. It's fine to enter through there." Sophia clarified.
"Then let's head back in tomorrow." Ren said and everyone agreed.
"But fiiiiiirst! I get to see Sophia's code! You promised, remember!" Futaba grinned. "I promise, you won't feel a thing."
"…Are you sure this is why?" Listening to Futaba sound so giddy made Sophia second-guess this.
"W-Wait, you can't keep my phone overnight, Futaba-senpai!" A fair concern for Sumire.
"That's okay. I can move to Ren's phone if that's better." Sophia suddenly vanished from the screen of Sumire's phone, only to appear on Ren's. "There."
"Whoa! She can move phones too!?" Futaba gasped.
"Only to Ren and Sumire's. And only if they are within close proximity to one another." Sophia explained. "I do not understand it myself. Presumably because they were closest to me when they found me?"
"Well…whatever works, I guess." Ren shrugged.
"Man, we get back together and this is what happens? Talk about an ass-busting vacation…" Ryuji groaned.
"Ah!" Yusuke suddenly shot up. "What about our Kyoto barbeque extravaganza!?"
"…Let it go, man. I don't think it's happening anymore." Ren had to be the bearer of bad news. Everyone was going to break for the night, while Futaba tried to figure out anything she could from Sophia. They were going to be very busy these next few days…
.
.
July 26th.
The Phantom Thieves made their way back to the Shibuya Jail. Upon entering, the immediately realized their attire changed to familiar clothing. "Oh…!" Dragon observed her kimono again. "This really must be the Metaverse if our clothes changed. This, erm…feels a bit tighter than before." She muttered that last part quietly.
"Look!" Panther pointed at Noir. "It's Beauty Thief!"
Noir pointed forward dramatically, on some sort of strange instinct. "My name is Beauty Thief!" And she was suddenly regretting that. "Ah…"
"It's nice to remiss, but let's take this seriously." Queen wanted to ensure that everyone stayed on track. "Although, these clothes do bring back some memories…"
"It hasn't been that long." Joker said while sliding his hands into his pockets.
"Anyway, guys…" Mona gestured to the area in front of them. "Take a look at this view."
"My word…" Fox was in awe. This looked just like Shibuya, but…not.
"This is where we saw a group of police Shadows taking odd gems from people's chest." Violet said. "Such a sight was…really hard to watch."
"It would be police Shadows." Noir said with a small huff.
"Oh yeah, that jewel we saw? What the hell was up with that?" Skill asked.
"That may have been a Desire." Sophia explained while approaching the group. Those who had yet to see her in this form were shocked. "Yo, Phantom Thieves."
"Aaah! Sophia!" Oracle gasped. "AI in human form!?"
"You're so cute, Sophia!" Noir clasped her hands together.
"Such a fascinating form you've taken. I can't stop staring at the beautifully curved lines!" Fox said. While he was taking it from the artistic view more than anything else.
"I've never seen an outfit like that. Can I try floofing it?!" Panther asked excitedly.
"I don't think she's going to let you do that." Dragon pointed out.
"…Floofing?" Sophia blinked.
"I think she wants to get a feel for the fabric of your clothes while hugging you, Sophia." Queen clarified.
"Request denied. I am not a child nor a pet." Sophia shook her head. Ann just pouted in response.
"Anyway…." Dragon cleared her throat. "You mentioned something about a Desire, Sophia? What is that?"
"That is the term used by Shadows here. They say things such as. 'seize their Desires' or 'we must take these Desries to the Monarch'." Sophia explained. "Based on what you saw, the aforementioned Jewel must have been a Desire."
"I see. If that's the case, then Alice is the Monarch of this Jail. She must want these Desires for some reason…" Mona said, thinking aloud.
"You said people were attacked in here, yes?" Dragon asked. Those who were in here nodded. "Well, I think something would've popped up if people actually went missing. Think of it like this: you entered the Metaverse in your Phantom Thief attire. So…the people that were in here must have actually been their Shadows instead."
"…That makes sense, actually." Joker said. "Everything happened so fast and we were so caught off guard, I guess we ended up racing to the worst case scenario."
"So what do we do next?" Violet asked.
"We start asking around about Alice." Queen said. "We have a little information from your experience. But if we're really serious about this, we have to do some groundwork. We can't make any moves without having the full picture."
"Looks like we're really getting getting back into the thick of things." Dragon said. "I suppose we should leave for now."
"Yes, let's get out of here." Sophia agreed.
As the Phantom Thieves were about to leave, Oracle stopped for a moment. "…?" Nah, it couldn't be. She shook her head and kept going before anyone could ask her what was wrong.
Not too far away, he watched them leave. "…Coming back the day after you get captured? I suppose I should've expected as much…"
.
.
The Phantom Thieves returned to reality in the Accessway, mulling over how to begin their investigation of Alice. Ann was pondering for a moment before deciding to speak. "Well…I might actually get a chance to meet with Alice tomorrow."
What a serious twist of luck. "Really?! How!?" Ryuji asked.
"Well, I had asked the modeling agency's president if I could meet her sometime." Ann said. "I heard she'd be on a TV show filming nearby so I asked if I could visit the set. I was hoping to learn from her by watching her in action…I gave up on it after making plans with you guys, but I might be able to get the ball rolling again…"
"Way to go, Lady-Ann!" Morgana said.
"But I'm not making any promises about it!" Ann quickly said. "Plus, our full group's just too big. I can only bring one other person at most, and I was gonna ask…" The moment she said only one other person was allowed, most eyes drifted to Ren.
"Um…" Hifumi blinked, feeling excluded. "We're…"
"…Was I just volunteered?" Ren blinked. "I mean, it's true I've already met and talked with Alice, but…"
"See, you're perfect!" Futaba beamed. "We're counting on you!"
"Give Alice shit when you meet with her so you can get some evidence out of her." Ryuji said.
"I…have my objections to this idea." Sumire mumbled. Just like Ryuji, she disliked Alice for multiple reasons. Perhaps a few of them wrong, but some of them right.
"Eheh, sorry Fumi." Ann said with a sheepish smile.
"It's alright." Hifumi said with a smile. "The mission is important and it's for the best." Besides, she did have a backup. A backup she didn't think she'd have to use, but it was timely enough.
"I'll take along too. It'll be fine as long as no one sees me." Morgana said. "For now, let's focus on the investigation of her potential victims." Their investigation around Shibuya was about to begin. Between the ten of them, they certainly had a lot of ground they would be able to cover…
.
.
Considering Alice was the hot topic right now, there was no better time to ask for information about her. Although it did vary from some useful tidbits, to otherwise useless information. Hifumi finished questioning a woman about Alice in Central Street, only to get a dismissive response about the idol in question. "Huh…" She closed her eyes for a moment. "It's a bit odd. Alice has female fans, but there are just as many, if not more, that despise her. On top of that…" Her train of thought was interrupted when Ann suddenly took hold of her hand. "Huh?"
"Oh my gosh, Fumi. Look!" They were standing in front of the crepe shop, and Ann was pointing at the menu excitedly. "They're having a summer sale. We can split one!"
"A-Are you sure that's wise right now?" Hifumi said.
"Hey, I know you're hungry and hot." Ann said. While she was mostly thinking about food, she was a little worried for Hifumi as well. "It's not good to rack your brain on an empty stomach either! Sitting down the shade and eating a crepe sounds like so much fun too!"
"I guess…" Hifumi gave Ann a sheepish smile. "I just want to contribute a little more is all."
"It's okay. It's not like we haven't found out anything." Ann said. "I mean, we know people are going really crazy over Alice. Relationships are going south, and people are collapsing…and her name is always coming up too in those incidents." The more Ann thought about it, the more it made her frown.
"…..Ann." Hifumi was aware that this situation with Alice was bothering Ann even more than she let on. "We can get strawberries on the crepe too." She said, giving Ann a gentle smile.
Ann immediately perked up. "You know me so well." Giggling, Ann was going up to buy them the crepe. Once they had their prize, she and Ann found a good place to sit in some shade, sharing the crepe together from the safety of the blazing sun up above.
.
"Muuugh…" Futaba and Sumire were in Station Square. No matter the strides Futaba made when it came to socializing, trying to ask strangers or even eavesdrop on them was still a hard thing to ask.
"…Why don't I ask people, Futaba-senpai?" Sumire offered. "I can tell just the thought of having to walk up to people scares you."
"…You're an angel." Futaba let out a huge sigh of relief. "I just can't do it."
Sumire just gave Futaba a smile. "It's alright. I'm sure you can find something on the internet? If we can't turn a corner without hearing her name, I'm sure people have a lot to say about her online."
"Good idea! Mwehehe…" Futaba gave a fiendish giggle before crackling her laptop open. "Let's see what the world has to say about her. I'm sure it'll be juicy!"
.
.
A short while later, everyone gathered back in the Acessway to report on their findings. "Did anyone find anything useful?" Makoto asked. On her end, aside from a few rumors, she…mostly got distracted with the fact Dragon: Like a Yakuza was playing in the theatre.
"We found the guys who were ambushed in the Jail." Ren began.
"Yeah, they were super obsessed with Alice." Ryuji frowned. "They were even getting' loans so they could buy more shit at her story. That's pretty weird and crazy."
"Hm…now that you mention it, I saw others behaving similarly in Shibuya." Yusuke said. He wasn't able to get any concrete information, but what he saw did line up with what Ren and Ryuji were reporting.
"Yeah, like this one couple nearly splitting up when the boyfriend bought everything Alice-related he could find." Ann added.
"And there were even people let go from their jobs because they weren't Alice fans themselves." Makoto said.
"That's…very extreme. I heard similar things though." Sumire said. "It's as if Alice truly is the one thing on everyone's mind. But…doesn't it seem a bit strange that it's mostly with her male fans when it comes to buying things?"
"It gets so much worse too. Alice fans even assault outspoken critics of hers." Futaba said.
"It's that serious…?" Hifumi frowned. "This is absurd…"
"At first I thought she was just the latest fad, but it really is so much worse than that." Haru looked down to the ground.
"Maybe the people who had the Desires taken from them went crazy?" Morgana suggested. With the information they had so far, things lined up a little bit.
"Then we must do something about this as quickly as we can." Yusuke said. "If the Metaverse is involved, we are the only ones who are capable of dealing with this situation. If such abhorrent behavior continues to rise, we could easily find ourselves in an unwinnable position."
"Then we must strike while the iron is hot." Hifumi stated firmly. "We cannot afford to delay any longer."
"Are you going to investigate Alice next?" Sophia asked.
"Yeah." Ren nodded. "Tomorrow is do or die time." The Phantom Thieves were resolved to get to the bottom of this Alice situation. Was she a bad person or not? Tomorrow would decide their next steps. Either way, the Phantom Thieves were getting back into the action.
