Shadow Mariko charged at the Phantom Thieves. They all split into separate directions to avoid the woman's rage. "Mari-san! What you're doing is wrong! We're taking the Desires back!" Noir exclaimed while landing on one of the tables in the room, pointing at Shadow Mariko with determination.
"Shut your prissy little mouth! What would you know!?" Shadow Mariko snapped at Noir. "I will consume all who oppose me, no matter who they are!" She then jumped into the air and crashed back down. The moment Shadow Mariko's body touched down on the ground, numerous icicles shot up from around her. This caused Everyone to leap back again to avoid being skewered.
"What's with all the food...!? Makes a guy kinda hungry..." Skull grumbled.
"Now's not the time to stuff your face!" Panther groaned as Skull's priorities. "Here she comes!" And Panther was right to give this warning. Shadow Mariko swung one of her knives forward, and following her swing was a trail of ice. Panther was nearly caught in its wake, but Dragon appeared in front of her with Bella's Aegis. "Ah, Dragon!"
"Be careful, I do not think this fight is in your element. But do not worry, I will protect you like always!" Dragon said with a smile.
"I'll be counting on you." Panther said with a nod.
Mariko and her multiple arms were a cause for concern for everyone. She had incredible reach, and with ice shooting from every attack, it was difficult to get in close because of it. "Watch out, she's pretty tough!" Oracle warned, before deciding to give everyone a helping hand with Al Azif. She cast Marakukaja on the team, boosting their defenses to help them take hits better. "And now, so are you!"
"Perfect!" Fox used his sword to slash through the incoming icicles coming his way, leaving an opening for someone else to strike. "There!"
"I see it!" Violet jumped forward, spinning around as Ella appeared be her side. "Dance, Ella!" Ella charged forward, elegantly flying past Shadow Mariko numerous times while slashing at her. It was the Vorpal Blade attack, and Shadow Mariko was not prepare for it, taking some significant damage in the process. "It's a hit!" Violet landed on the ground, but she didn't have much time to celebrate. She immediately had to bring her rapier up defensively to block a fork strike coming her way, but it was still strong enough to knock her back. "Ah...!"
Luckily for Violet, Skull was the one who used his body as a shield to prevent her from hitting anything. "Don't worry, I gotcha!" Skull said while pointing his free hand forward, William already taking aim at his target. "Blast 'em away, William!" William fired a missile from his arm cannon and it soared through the sky while flying towards Shadow Mariko. Shadow Mariko turned too late, the missile striking and exploding against her face. The electrical impact was enough to make her stagger backwards.
"Agggh! Stop that! I've done nothing to deserve such agony!" Shadow Mariko wailed.
"Playing the victim card when in the corner, are you? How unfortunate for you." Crow said while Hereward appeared in front of him, multiple arrows of curse magic at the ready. On his command, his Persona fired these arrows into the air, where they came down on Shadow Mariko, resulting in numerous explosions onto the Monarch along with her cry of pain. Crow could tell this did some damage, but he wasn't sure how effective it was.
"I SAID STOP IT!" Shadow Mariko roared. As the smoke cleared, her appearance changed drastically. No longer was she as pure as white snow, but instead as red as a raging volcano. Her anger spiked and she could not contain herself for long. She would not when these brats had the audacity to strike at her like she was a villain! She spun around a few times, her weaponized kitchen utensils striking the Phantom Thieves due to their wide range. Everyone was sent scattering in different directions from the impact, which was thankfully softened from Oracle's defensive buffs.
"Ugh..." Joker groaned. Shadow Mariko still hit like a truck.
"She's mad now, and her attack power has gone way up...!" Oracle said while grimacing. She hated it when she took hits, but she was sturdy enough to hold her ground for a bit. Sometimes it couldn't be helped.
"She's completely consumed with rage! Everyone, keep your guard up!" Queen exclaimed.
"Rage? Ah, she should be susceptible to a good 'ol psychic attack!" Oracle suggested. "Joker! Noir! Hit her hard!"
"We'll give you an opening!" Mona said as he, Queen, and Dragon stood up to the plate.
"Let's go!" Queen was riding Agnes forward. She captured the enraged Mariko's attention, driving around the Monarch. Shadow Mariko was frustrated and began to stab at Queen with her forks and knives, but the Phantom Thief's driving was too skillful for her to land a hit, which only angered the Monarch more. Fox cut down one of the tables, turning it into a makeshift ramp that Queen used to jump into the air, driving the front wheel of Agnes into Shadow Mariko. The Monarch countered by bringing up her knives to block this attack. It was a stalemate for a while, but Queen was ultimately pushed back, not before sticking her landing, though.
"Haaaah!" Mona attacked after this, using his saber to slash at Shadow Mariko's arms. She was easily able to outrange him with her weapons, but his goal was never to attack in the first place. He knew that he'd be outmatched in a contest of strength, so he did nothing more than pull her attention. "Dragon, now!"
"What?" Shadow Markio looked up, only to see that Dragon was already in the air, her staff charged with Almighty magic. Dragon thrusted her staff forward, where a Megidoloan exploded in Shadow Mariko's face. "GAAAAH!" Shadow Mariko cried out while staggering backwards, completely stunned by that blow.
With this promised opening, Joker and Noir leapt into action. "Kaiwan!"
"Lucy!"
They summoned Personas at once. Kaiwan and Lucy formed a gigantic sphere of psychic energy in the air above the enraged Shadow Mariko. Their magic power merged together and dropped down on the Monarch, who let out a loud scream of pain as the effective magic struck true. There was a brief flash of psychic energy and when it faded, Shadow Mariko's body was white once again. "Agggh..."
Panther and Sophie then dropped down on opposite sides of the Monarch to attack. "Celestine, burn her up!" Panther shouted.
"Pithos, fire!" Sophie pointed forward. On one side, Shadow Mariko was blasted by intense flames, while a piercing ray of light struck her from the other. She was sandwiched between these two attacks that exploded against her for massive damage. The Phantom Thieves watched intently for any signs of life. The dust settled and Shadow Mariko was still capable of fighting, but she did not look very happy about any of it.
"GET LOST!" Shadow Mariko then breathed out a chilling gale of wind. Everyone covered themselves to shield their bodies from the harsh wind. But this breath whipped up a blizzard similar to that which they experienced in the city earlier, obscuring sight while making it hard to move.
"Agh! It's cold again!" Violet groaned. Just when she was kind of getting used to the cold, this has to happen!?"
"Be careful, she could strike from anywhere! There's a heater in the northwest corner of the room that can deal with this cold!" Oracle reported.
"I'll take care of it!" Fox said. The cold bothered him the least out of anyone, with the exception of Joker's shifting Personas to Jack Frost. But Fox had the speed and planned to make haste to the heater so everyone could have a fighting chance. It was difficult to see where Shadow Mariko planned to strike, but that's why he had to be fast.
Noir was looking around carefully, trying to spot Shadow Mariko through the snow that she kicked up. She was still a large target and hard to miss. Noir then spotted a fork coming her way and she brought her axe up to deflect it. A knife then came at her, and she swung, but she was then struck by one of Shadow Mariko's tentacles that knocked her down. "Ouch...!" Shadow Mariko appeared and raised a fork, intending to stab Noir with it. Noir had no time to dodge and she was about to brace herself for the worst, but then, she felt herself move. "Huh-?!"
It was...Crow of all people!? "Move...!" Crow said with a scowl. He pushed Noir out of the way, and in turn, he was stabbed in the leg with Shadow Mariko's fork. Not only that, but she flung him into the air and...swallowed him whole. Fox managed to get to the heater in time and it dispelled the blizzard, clearing the room. Right as he did that, everyone saw Crow get eaten.
"DID SHE JUST EAT ONE OF US!? SOMEBODY HEEEEEEELP!" Oracle cried out.
"Dude, that's not cool!" Skull gagged.
"H-Huh...?" Noir was still on the ground in shock, having a hard time processing what just happened. Out of all the people to save her, she expected anyone...except Crow. He quite literally threw himself into harm's way for her sake and got eaten because of it. "I-I don't..." How was she supposed to react to this!?
"How do we get him out!?" Joker turned to Oracle.
"Um. Um...!" Oracle was frantically looking around for a solution. Her eyes darted throughout the room, trying to find something to use to help them out of this situation. Her gaze then landed on the chandeliers hanging above them. "Use those! If you crash one onto her head, it should make her spit Crow out from the impact!" Such a thing would be easier said than done, however. With how Shadow Mariko was attacking anyone within reach, they'd have to goad her into standing under one first.
"Leave it to me!" Panther said, taking the chance to leap onto a chandelier in the south corner of the room, waving to the others to find a way to lead their target there.
Mona stepped forward and proceed to take aim at Shadow Mariko with his slingshot. He fired multiple pellets at her back, all of them crashing into the Monarch. "Hey, over here!" Mona waved.
Shadow Mariko turned around, scowling at Mona. Such a little creature was barely a morsel! Well, it didn't matter. She'd eat him too. "I'll gobble you up!" She said while charging towards Mona, swinging her forks and knives at the cat monster to try and attack him. Mona being small and agile really helped in evading these furious attacks, which only proceed to enrage Mariko again. Slowly but surely, she was beginning to turn red once again.
By that time, however, Shadow Mariko was already in position. Panther used her whip to cut the chain of the chandiler, allowing it to fall and crash down onto Shadow Mariko. The impact stunned the Monarch and with a wet cough, she spat up Crow, who tumbled along the ground. "Ew..." Panther grimaced. "Are you okay?"
"How bad was that...!?" Skull asked Crow. Considering he was just breifly eaten alive, it made sense that the others were concerned about him.
This concern, however, felt unwarranted as far as Crow was concerned. But he was still mildly irritated by the whole ordeal. "I am disgusted and perturbed, but I will be fine."
"I bet being someone's snack wasn't apart of your day today..." Joker said.
"I would prefer if we never spoke of this again, actually." Crow spat. It was, understandably, not something he wanted to think much about. "We have more important matters to deal with." He gestured to Shadow Mariko, who was fuming red once again. Fox, Queen, Dragon, and Skull were currently keeping her busy while the others came up with a plan to take her down. "It won't end if her rage carries her onward."
"Then we finish it in one shot!" Joker said while rushing forward. "Noir, the final blow will be all yours. Are you ready?"
"Huh...?" Noir was still briefly shocked by what happened with Crow, but she snapped out of it and nodded. She could think about that later. Mariko came first. "I'm ready...!"
"Sophie, on me!" Joker said, and Sophie nodded in response. While Shadow Mariko was fighting off Fox, Queen Dragon, and Skull, Joker and Sophie snuck up behind her. Joker's mask burned away as he summoned Raoul, and Sophie brought forth Pithos. "Fire!"
"What?" Shadow Mariko turned around, only to see the other Phantom Thieves attacking her. Raoul released a blast of Curse magic in her direction, while Sophie and Pithos also did the same thing. The two attacks collided against the Monarch's face, blowing her off the ground completely and sending her into the air. As she tumbled, she saw Noir in mid air, already taking aim with Lucy.
"Mari-san...this is for your own good!" Noir pointed forward dramatically as Lucy fired off a large bullet fused with psychic energy. This bullet pierced through Shadow Mariko's body and she started to fall to the ground, defeated.
"No...this cannot be...if I fall, what kind of monster will..." Shadow Mariko hit the ground and landed on her back, reverting to her normal state while exhausted. The Phantom Thieves triumphed. But despite that, she still refused to go down. She had to keep fighting. "Wait...! Not yet! I won't let it end this way! I need to wipe out all of Sapporo's injustice!"
Noir couldn't stand to watch this anymore. "Please, stop! Haven't you done enough!?"
"What...?" Shadow Mariko looked towards Noir.
"You're a kind person, Mari-san." Noir started. "And I know you've tried to shoulder all of this alone. The staff member who took bribes, the councilmen who tried to set you up, even the girl who died in the accident..." In response to this, Shadow Mariko gasped. How did they know about that? Noir continued. She saw the pain in Mariko's heart and this was her time to finally do something about it. She could save someone she cared about... "Each of these things grieved you. And in order to make a city where none of it could reoccur, you took action as you saw fit. Am I right?"
There was heavy silence in the air as everyone waited for Shadow Mariko to respond. Eventually, she did. "As the mayor, I know very well that little girl's death was ultimately my fault. But my staff betrayed me! All for their insatiable greed! Unfortunately, it wasn't as simple as that. Had I gone, I'd only be replaced by greedy scum! That's why I never stepped down. In this world, it's either eat or be eaten! And with circumstances so cruel, I decided I would be the one doing the eating! Even if every last one of my votes were false, at least I could use them to make the world a better place! But if I was replaced as mayor, who would be there to honor that little girl's memory? A little girl lost her life, yet I could do nothing to stop the evil still afoot!"
Noir stepped forward. "It's not too late to do what's right. You have to start with telling everyone what happened. Then you can get a fresh start, but this time, on your own strength!"
"That would be...impossible..." Shadow Mariko shook her head. Her? A fresh start? After all of the dirt she's carried with her? "I cooperated with those awful men to hide the truth...that way I could continue being mayor. There's nothing I can do."
"..." Noir felt something in her chest quickly rising to the surface. "STAND UP, MARIKO HYODO!" This was the first time Noir raised her voice in such a long time. She was always so soften spoken, so the fact she yelled at the top of her lungs startled quite literally everybody from how sudden it was. "Are you just going to stay knocked down!? You are a kind and strong woman, not someone who collapses over mistakes! So stand up and hold your head up high! Because no matter how many times you fall, you can always get back up and start again!"
"Haru..." Dragon looked over to Noir, smiling softly at how her resolve burned so brightly.
"..." Crow said not a word. But he didn't look away from the scene. He just watched how determined Noir was to get through to Mariko.
Shadow Mariko recalled those words. The person she told them to... "Isn't that..."
'Yes," Noir said with a gentle nod. "You said that to me a long time ago. Even if you told people the truth about the incident, there are still those that would see the good in you! Don't let your position ruin you! Think back to what you stood for!"
"She's right, mayor!" Skull said. "You can't give up! If you do that, then those bastards will really win over you!"
"If you tell everyone your side of things, they'll listen!" Panther added.
"...Not everyone will default to seeing the bad in you, even if you don't think so." Crow mumbled. It wasn't a form of encouragement; at least, that's what he thought. It was simply a pragmatic point of view from experience.
"Crow...?" Sophie looked to Crow curiously. She heard him and tilted her head.
Noir looked down to the ground. "When my father died, I felt like my heart was going to break completely. But...thanks to my friends, the Phantom Thieves, and all their support, I was able to stand up and move forward! That's why I know you can! Remember the part of you that told me to get back up, no matter how many times I fell!"
"..." Shadow Mariko stared at Noir. This...was Haru? This was the little girl she was so fond of back in the day? She grew up so splendidly... "Yes...thank you, Haru-chan." The Monarch slowly stood up. "What I've done was wrong. I drove my employees to the brink and used a strange power to manipulate the votes. I was so driven by my personal agenda, I lost sight of how I originally felt, and why I ran for mayor in the first place: to make a city beloved by everyone. To give back to the home where I was raised...that's reason enough to take another stand. I won't make this mistake again. I never needed this power from the start!" She took her crown and tossed it to the ground. "Haru-chan...you've grown so much. Your father must be so happy in heaven." With those parting words, Shadow Mariko faded, returning to her real self.
"Mari-san..." Noir felt a huge wave of relief wash over her. She was truly able to get through to Mariko. Something she never got to do with her father. She saved her...
"Happy...?" Sophie tilted her head. But that thought would have to wait, because with the disappearance of the Monarch, the castle itself began to tremble.
"We're out of time!" Queen exclaimed. "We have to leave, now!"
.
.
It was night in Sapporo when they returned to reality. Yusuke let out a hefty sigh. "That took us quite a while."
"Haru, you were fantastic." Makoto looked to Haru with a smile.
"That was amazing, Haru-senpai!" Sumire beamed. "You were so cool..."
"That was a perfect victory in my eyes." Hifumi gave Haru a nod of approval. She didn't think it could go any better.
"A job well done." Ren said with a grin.
"It was only because you were all with me." Haru said with a soft smile. "But I do wonder if she'll be okay."
"I'd say so!" Ryuji said. "Her Shadow disappeared like they always do."
"Yeah, your feelings definitely reached her." Morgana added. "I'm sure her heart has changed for the better. I guess this wraps up the mission."
"We still need to confirm that the citizens are all back to normal." Makoto glanced around. They didn't really have a way of doing that so quickly, she realized. "It'd be nice if could do that right away."
"If her heart's changed, we'll find out tomorrow." Akechi said while looking elsewhere. He couldn't look at them and he couldn't look at Haru for some reason.
"Can't we grab something to eat first?" Ryuji asked. "I'm hungry enough to pass out here."
"He has a point." Yusuke nodded. "Battles can't be fought on an empty stomach."
"Uh, the battle's already over..." Ryuji sighed in response.
"Hey, can we try jingisukan - that delicious lamb barbecue stuff?!" Morgana chimed in. He was hungry and wanted to try it.
"Oooh, that's a must in Hokkaido!" Futaba grinned.
"What?!" Yusuke sounded utterly heartbroken. "I thought we were finally getting lobster hot pot!?"
"You have to let it go." Hifumi shook her head slowly.
"Why would we decide that when it's so damn hot out?!" Ryuji also shook his head, agreeing with Hifumi.
"I think lobster is a little heavy right now." Said Sumire, the one with the boundless stomach. She'd probably still eat it, though.
"Buuut if you think about it, jingisukan sorta like hot pot?" Futaba spoke up.
"No way!" Ann's eyes widened. "Isn't it supposed to be barbecue?"
"Well, cooking it does require a jingsukan pot, and you can't barbecue a pot..." Makoto said.
"I still think it's barbecue." Ren added.
"...Are you serious about this?" Akechi was trying to ignore this conversation because he really did hate the small talk, but this was too irritating for him not to comment on.
"Yup." Ren nodded. Although there was a coy smile on his lips as he knew he just annoyed Akechi about it all.
"Right?! You cook it just like barbecue, so..." Ann trailed off. "Wait...what were we talking about...?"
"Oh, Ann..." Hifumi had a smile on her lips.
Meanwhile, Haru just couldn't help but smile and giggle. "Ahahahaha...!"
'Heeey, was that a smile just now?" Futaba teased. "Straight from Sapporo, Beauty Thief's very own smile!"
"I'm glad you can smile like this, Haru-senpai." Sumire held her hands behind her back. "You looked so worried the whole time..."
"So worried, she had such a late night chat with Hifumi." Yusuke pointed out.
That embarrassed Haru. "Y-You were watching that...!?" How much did people see last night? The others did laugh at her reaction. Haru was beginning to realize that maybe she wasn't as subtle about certain things as she thought...
After a few minutes of laughing, the air was light and happy. "Alright, Sophia! Find is the best jingisukan place around!" Futaba asked.
"..." Sophia didn't respond. She was in her own head, thinking about something else entirely.
Sumire pulled her phone out, looking at Sophia with some concern. "...Sophia?"
"Huh?" Sophia blinked. She did hear Futaba's request, but she just didn't process it until she snapped out of it. "Oh, right! I'm sorry, I'll show you all the way. Okay, I've got it." And off they went to eat.
As they wandered, Akechi lingered behind. He was thinking too much about Haru and Mariko and his role in the death of Kunikazu Okumura. "If I didn't take the path I did, would things be different...? No...that's merely wishful thinking. It's far too late for me to think about what could've been different. Nothing could've changed. I made my choices and I will stick by them. That is the least I can do after everything..."
